4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

16
W ith no let up in the coro- navirus cases which rose to 39 on Sunday, with five new cases in Kerala, India is pulling out all stops in fight against the deadly pathogen. While the Centre has asked the States to enhance commu- nity surveillance and augment isolation facilities in hospitals across, Arunanchal Pradesh suspended issuing of Protected Area Permits (PAP) to for- eigners whereas Kerala warned of taking stringent action against those hiding travel his- tory and symptoms of the infection. Last week, the Sikkim Government had suspended issuing Inner Line Permit (ILP) to foreign nationals. The Kerala Government’s move to warn the citizen fol- lowed after it reported five new cases on Sunday— a cou- ple in their fifties and their 24- year-old son — who had flown in from Italy last month and evaded airport screening. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said the State has been put on high alert in the wake of the new cases, reported more than a fortnight after India’s first three coronavirus patients — medical students from Wuhan—were discharged from hospitals in the State. The Minister said all the passengers who travelled with the infected family in the Venice-Doha Qatar airlines QR 126 flight on February 29 and Qatar Airlines flight QR514 from Doha to Kochi that arrived at 8.20 am on March 1 should get in touch with health authorities. The Kerala Government, however, has decided to go ahead with “Attukal Pongala,” one of the largest all-women religious congregations to be held on Monday, while issuing fresh guidelines including ask- ing those coming from abroad especially from the affected countries to make the offering in their hotels itself. The number of COVID-19 cases in India, which was just six till last Tuesday, stands at 39, including 16 Italians. The fig- ure includes the three Kerala patients who have recuperated. A cruise ship with a Panama flag “MSC Lirica” was turned back at the New Mangalore Port on Saturday following the Centre’s adviso- ry to deny entry to cruise ships till March 31 in the wake of the coronavirus scare. Meanwhile, a diabetic man died in the isolation ward of a hospital in West Bengal's Murshidabad on Sunday, a day after he was admitted there with suspected symptoms of coronavirus following his return from Saudi Arabia. Though test results of his blood and swab samples for novel coronavirus were awaited, it can be said that Janarul Haque died probably of diabetes, Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty told PTI. Globally, the number of coronavirus cases stood at over 105,800, including 3,595 deaths, across 95 countries. Continued on Page 4 T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested Yes Bank’s founder and former chairman Rana Kapoor (62) on charges of money laundering. The arrest, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), comes after 30 hours of intense questioning. Kapoor is accused of receiving kick- backs from various corporate entities on disbursal of loans and mismanagement in the operations of the private bank. The ED produced Kapoor before a holiday court in Mumbai which remanded him in the probe agency’s custody till March 11. He was arrested by the ED around 3 am on Sunday as he was allegedly not cooperating in the probe. The ED is also recording the state- ment of Kapoor’s wife and daughters. Meanwhile, the CBI has begun a probe into the Yes Bank affairs as officials started collecting documents in the matter. According to CBI sources, the agency is looking into aspects of alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and cor- ruption. The sources refused to elaborate on the nature of the probe — preliminary enquiry or an FIR — or people arraigned, but affirmed that a formal investigation has begun. The relations between the scam-hit DHFL and Yes Bank are understood to be under the scanner of the CBI with some questionable financial transac- tions involving a third compa- ny, sources added. The ED contended before the court that Yes Bank bought debentures worth 3,700 crore of DHFL. In lieu of the same DHFL sanctioned a 600 crore loan to DoIT Urban Ventures Pvt Ltd, a company in which Kapoor’s daughters are direc- tors. The said loan was given without adequate collateral. “DHFL’s Kapil Wadhawan and Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy to defraud public money,” ED counsel Sunil Gonsalves contested before the court. The agency has pegged the proceeds of crime in the case at 4,300 crore. The ED told the court that role of some companies run by Kapoor’s family mem- bers needs to be established and they need to confront all these people with the accused. According to a PTI report, the investigating agency is probing the source of funds which were used by the fami- ly members of Rana Kapoor to acquire assets in London. The report added that under inves- tigation are investments over 2,000 crore, 44 expensive paintings and a dozen alleged shell firms. Kapoor sold almost all his stake in YES Bank in November last year but for 900 shares. This came after the YES bank co-founder had boastfully declared that he would never sell his share in YES bank and that “diamonds are forever”. Authorities also recovered some documents that indicate that Kapoor’s fam- ily has assets in London, which is now under the Indian agency’s scanner. Meanwhile, allaying con- cerns raised by many after Yes Bank fiasco, the RBI on Sunday reiterated that depositors’ money is safe and it is closely monitoring all banks. “Concern has been raised in certain sec- tions of media about safety of deposits of certain banks. This concern is based on analysis which is flawed. Solvency of banks is internationally based on Capital to Risk Weighted Assets (CRAR) and not on market cap,” the central bank said in a tweet. Continued on Page 4 T he Special Cell of anti-ter- rorist unit of the Delhi Police on Sunday arrested from Okhla area in Delhi a Kashmiri couple, having inks with Islamic State (IS) Khorasan module, for engineering protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and inciting young Muslim men to conduct terror strikes all across India. The accused have been identified as Jahanjeb Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Beg, said Pramod Singh Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell). The police have seized four mobile phones, a laptop, an external hard-disc and other incriminating materials from their house. According to sources, the couple also insti- gated the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act agitation in Shaheen Bagh. Police said the couple were planning a suicide attack in Delhi, and was per- suading youths to join the ranks of the ISIS. From the interrogation, it has been found that they had created several anonymous Ids on several social media plat- forms such as Telegram, Facebook, Threema, Sure spot, Instagram, Twitter, and prop- agating the ideology of the terror group ISIS. Investigation by the Delhi Police and central agencies has found incontrovertible evi- dence of the involvement of ISIS in engineering the protests against the contentious citi- zenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The couple was under the surveillance of the agencies. They were found to be in reg- ular touch with the senior ISIS handlers in Afghanistan’s Khorasan province. They were specifically tasked to exploit the ongoing anti-CAA agitation and incite instigate Muslim youths carry out terror strikes all over India, police sources said. A team of the Special Cell took the couple Jahanjeb Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Beig into custody on Sunday morn- ing from their C-4, 2nd Floor, Okhla Vihar home. They were found in possession of certain sensitive items and were con- fronted but they could not give any satisfactory answer. It has been revealed that Jahanjeb Sami used to work in a private company. The couple also ran a social media plat- form called “Indian Muslims unite”, which worked towards mobilising support against the CAA and the NRC. Intelligence officials say that Jahanzab had been in touch with Islamic State’s Khorasan wing Pakistani commander Huzaifa al- Bakistani, who played a key role in efforts to radicalise Kashmiri youngsters to join the terror group. Huzaifa had first joined the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba before upgrading to the ISIS. Huzaifa was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan. Shaheen Bagh in Southeast Delhi has been witnessing a massive protest against the CAA, where hundreds of women have been conducting a sit-in since December 15. The riots in Northeast dis- trict that singed the national Capital and took the lives of 44 persons (unconfirmed figure is 50 as six more bodies are yet to be identified) and injuring 298, had started as clashes between the anti-CAA protesters and those supporting the law. The Centre has repeatedly insisted that the protest against the CAA is conspiracy by forces inimical to the interest of the country. The BJP used it exten- sively during its campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections, held on February 8 this year. F ormer Law Minister and senior Congress leader Hans Raj Bhardwaj, who also served as Governor of Kerala and Karnataka, died after a cardiac arrest at Max Hospital here on Sunday evening. He was 83. Bhardwaj was admitted in hospital since Wednesday due to kidney-related issues. He will be cremated at the Nighambodh Ghat on Monday at 4 pm, his son Arun Bhardwaj said. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the death of former Union Minister and Congress veteran. “Anguished by the passing away of former Minister Shri Hans Raj Bhardwaj... My thoughts are with his family and well-wishers in this hour of grief. Om Shanti,” the PMO tweeted quoting Modi. Detailed report on P5 T aking the lead in paying tributes to women on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over his social media accounts on Sunday to seven women achievers of different fields to share their success stories. The women chosen to use Modi’s accounts included Sneha Mohandoss, who works to eradicate hunger; Malvika Iyer, who survived a gruesome bomb blast that blew off her hands and damaged her legs when she was 13 and is now a motivational speaker, disabili- ty activist and model; and Arifa Jaan from Kashmir who promotes traditional crafts of Kashmir. Others were Kalpana Ramesh, a water conservator; Vijaya Pawar, who promotes handicrafts from the Banjara community of rural Maharashtra; Kalavati Devi of Kanpur, who collects money to build toilets; and Veena Devi, who is from Munger in Bihar and made her name by growing mushrooms under her bed due to lack of space. Social media was eagerly wait- ing to know who were all selected by the Prime Minister, as he had declared to hand over his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube accounts to women achievers last week. Before handing over his accounts, the Prime Minister on Sunday morning shared brief videos of the women on his Twitter and Instagram pages and their achievements on his Facebook page. The achievements were shared under #SheInspiresUs. Sneha Mohandoss, inspired by her mother, started an initiative called Foodbank India. She works with volunteers, many of whom are outside India, to eradicate hunger. “We have over 20 chap- ters and have impacted several people with our work. We also ini- tiated activ- ities like mass cook- ing, cooking marathons, breastfeeding awareness dri- ves,” she wrote on Modi’s Twitter account. Before oper- ating PM’s Twitter account, she tweeted from her account that she is going to operate PM’s account on Sunday. Malvika Iyer survived a gruesome bomb blast at the age of 13 that blew off her hands and severely damaged her legs. “Giving up is never an option. Forget your limitations and take on the world with confi- dence and hope,” she wrote on the Prime Minister’s handle. Iyer is a motivational speaker, disability activist and a model. Arifa Jaan from Kashmir had always dreamt of reviving the traditional crafts of Kashmir as, according to her, this was a means to empower local women. “I saw the condition of women artisans and so I began working to revise “namda” craft... When tradition meets modernity, wonders can hap- pen. I experienced this in my work. It is designed to suit the modern day market,” she wrote. Introducing herself, Kalpana Ramesh, a water conservator, said, “be a warrior but of a dif- ferent kind. Be a water warrior”. “Small efforts can make a big impact... Contribute by using water responsibly, har- vesting rainwater, saving lakes, recycling used water and cre- ating awareness,” she wrote. Vijaya Pawar promotes hand- icrafts from the Banjara com- munity of rural Maharashtra. “I have been working on this for the last two decades and have been assisted by a thousand more women,” she wrote. Continued on Page 4 A war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress on Sunday over the Yes Bank crisis with the ruling party seeking to link it with the Gandhi family, while the Opposition wondered if the Prime Minister and Finance Minister were “complicit” as the bank’s loan book grew manifold. Posting on Twitter a clip of a news channel report that Rana Kapoor, the arrested Yes Bank founder, had bought a painting from Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, BJP’s information and technology wing in-charge Amit Malviya alleged that every financial crime in India has “deep links” with the Gandhis. Congress termed the charge “fake”. It said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had sold an MF Hussain painting of her father Rajiv Gandhi to Kapoor for 2 crore, and the entire amount was disclosed in her income tax return of 2010. Malviya tweeted, “Every financial crime in India has deep link with the Gandhis. Mallya used to send flight upgrade tickets to Sonia Gandhi. Had access to MMS (Manmohan Singh) and PC (P Chidambaram). Is absconding. Rahul inaugurated Nirav Modi’s bridal jewellery collec- tion, he defaulted. Rana bought Priyanka Vadra’s paint- ings.” Rubbishing the allegation, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it was a “diversionary” tactic by the Government. He noted that the bank’s loan book rose from 55,633 crore in March 2014, the year Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, to 2, 41,499 crore in March 2019. Continued on Page 4 New Delhi : The Delhi Government has ordered DTC and cluster buses, Delhi Metro and hospitals to be disinfected on a regular basis as a precau- tionary measure to deal with novel coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. See P3 Italy: Italy’s death toll from the new coronavirus shot up by 133 to 366 on Sunday while the number of infections rose by a single-day record of 1,492 to hit 7,375. Italy has recorded the most deaths of any country outside China and the second- most infections in the world. Detailed report on P12

Transcript of 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

Page 1: 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

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With no let up in the coro-navirus cases which rose

to 39 on Sunday, with five newcases in Kerala, India is pullingout all stops in fight against thedeadly pathogen.

While the Centre has askedthe States to enhance commu-nity surveillance and augmentisolation facilities in hospitalsacross, Arunanchal Pradeshsuspended issuing of ProtectedArea Permits (PAP) to for-eigners whereas Kerala warnedof taking stringent actionagainst those hiding travel his-tory and symptoms of theinfection.

Last week, the SikkimGovernment had suspendedissuing Inner Line Permit (ILP)to foreign nationals.

The Kerala Government’smove to warn the citizen fol-lowed after it reported fivenew cases on Sunday— a cou-ple in their fifties and their 24-year-old son — who had flownin from Italy last month andevaded airport screening.

Kerala Health Minister KKShailaja said the State has beenput on high alert in the wakeof the new cases, reportedmore than a fortnight afterIndia’s first three coronaviruspatients — medical studentsfrom Wuhan—were discharged

from hospitals in the State.The Minister said all the

passengers who travelled withthe infected family in theVenice-Doha Qatar airlinesQR 126 flight on February 29and Qatar Airlines flightQR514 from Doha to Kochithat arrived at 8.20 am onMarch 1 should get in touchwith health authorities.

The Kerala Government,however, has decided to goahead with “Attukal Pongala,”one of the largest all-womenreligious congregations to beheld on Monday, while issuingfresh guidelines including ask-ing those coming from abroadespecially from the affectedcountries to make the offeringin their hotels itself.

The number of COVID-19cases in India, which was justsix till last Tuesday, stands at 39,including 16 Italians. The fig-ure includes the three Keralapatients who have recuperated.

A cruise ship with aPanama flag “MSC Lirica” wasturned back at the NewMangalore Port on Saturdayfollowing the Centre’s adviso-ry to deny entry to cruise shipstill March 31 in the wake of thecoronavirus scare.

Meanwhile, a diabetic mandied in the isolation ward of ahospital in West Bengal'sMurshidabad on Sunday, a dayafter he was admitted therewith suspected symptoms ofcoronavirus following hisreturn from Saudi Arabia.Though test results of his bloodand swab samples for novelcoronavirus were awaited, itcan be said that Janarul Haquedied probably of diabetes,Director of Health ServicesAjay Chakraborty told PTI.

Globally, the number ofcoronavirus cases stood at over105,800, including 3,595deaths, across 95 countries.

Continued on Page 4

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Sunday arrested Yes Bank’sfounder and former chairmanRana Kapoor (62) on chargesof money laundering. Thearrest, under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA), comes after 30 hoursof intense questioning. Kapooris accused of receiving kick-backs from various corporateentities on disbursal of loansand mismanagement in theoperations of the private bank.

The ED produced Kapoorbefore a holiday court inMumbai which remanded himin the probe agency’s custodytill March 11. He was arrestedby the ED around 3 am onSunday as he was allegedly notcooperating in the probe. TheED is also recording the state-ment of Kapoor’s wife anddaughters.

Meanwhile, the CBI hasbegun a probe into the YesBank affairs as officials startedcollecting documents in thematter. According to CBIsources, the agency is lookinginto aspects of alleged criminalconspiracy, cheating and cor-ruption. The sources refused toelaborate on the nature of theprobe — preliminary enquiryor an FIR — or peoplearraigned, but affirmed that aformal investigation has begun.The relations between thescam-hit DHFL and Yes Bankare understood to be under thescanner of the CBI with somequestionable financial transac-tions involving a third compa-

ny, sources added.The ED contended before

the court that Yes Bank boughtdebentures worth �3,700 croreof DHFL. In lieu of the sameDHFL sanctioned a �600 croreloan to DoIT Urban VenturesPvt Ltd, a company in whichKapoor’s daughters are direc-tors. The said loan was givenwithout adequate collateral.

“DHFL’s Kapil Wadhawanand Kapoor entered into acriminal conspiracy to defraudpublic money,” ED counselSunil Gonsalves contestedbefore the court. The agencyhas pegged the proceeds of

crime in the case at �4,300crore. The ED told the courtthat role of some companiesrun by Kapoor’s family mem-bers needs to be establishedand they need to confront allthese people with the accused.

According to a PTI report,the investigating agency is

probing the source of fundswhich were used by the fami-ly members of Rana Kapoor toacquire assets in London. Thereport added that under inves-tigation are investments over�2,000 crore, 44 expensivepaintings and a dozen allegedshell firms. Kapoor sold almostall his stake in YES Bank inNovember last year but for 900shares. This came after theYES bank co-founder hadboastfully declared that hewould never sell his share inYES bank and that “diamondsare forever”. Authorities alsorecovered some documentsthat indicate that Kapoor’s fam-ily has assets in London, whichis now under the Indianagency’s scanner.

Meanwhile, allaying con-cerns raised by many after YesBank fiasco, the RBI on Sundayreiterated that depositors’money is safe and it is closelymonitoring all banks. “Concernhas been raised in certain sec-tions of media about safety ofdeposits of certain banks. Thisconcern is based on analysiswhich is flawed. Solvency ofbanks is internationally basedon Capital to Risk WeightedAssets (CRAR) and not onmarket cap,” the central banksaid in a tweet.

Continued on Page 4

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The Special Cell of anti-ter-rorist unit of the Delhi

Police on Sunday arrested fromOkhla area in Delhi a Kashmiricouple, having inks withIslamic State (IS) Khorasanmodule, for engineeringprotests against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act and incitingyoung Muslim men to conductterror strikes all across India.

The accused have beenidentified as Jahanjeb Samiand his wife Hina Bashir Beg,said Pramod Singh Kushwah,Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Special Cell).

The police have seized fourmobile phones, a laptop, anexternal hard-disc and otherincriminating materials fromtheir house. According tosources, the couple also insti-gated the anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act agitation inShaheen Bagh. Police said thecouple were planning a suicideattack in Delhi, and was per-suading youths to join the

ranks of the ISIS.From the interrogation, it

has been found that they hadcreated several anonymous Idson several social media plat-forms such as Telegram,Facebook, Threema, Sure spot,Instagram, Twitter, and prop-agating the ideology of theterror group ISIS.

Investigation by the Delhi

Police and central agencies hasfound incontrovertible evi-dence of the involvement ofISIS in engineering the protestsagainst the contentious citi-zenship law and the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC).

The couple was under thesurveillance of the agencies.They were found to be in reg-ular touch with the senior ISIS

handlers in Afghanistan’sKhorasan province.

They were specificallytasked to exploit the ongoinganti-CAA agitation and inciteinstigate Muslim youths carryout terror strikes all over India,police sources said.

A team of the Special Celltook the couple Jahanjeb Samiand his wife Hina Bashir Beiginto custody on Sunday morn-ing from their C-4, 2nd Floor,Okhla Vihar home. They werefound in possession of certainsensitive items and were con-fronted but they could notgive any satisfactory answer.

It has been revealed thatJahanjeb Sami used to work ina private company. The couplealso ran a social media plat-form called “Indian Muslimsunite”, which worked towardsmobilising support against theCAA and the NRC.

Intelligence officials saythat Jahanzab had been intouch with Islamic State’sKhorasan wing Pakistanicommander Huzaifa al-

Bakistani, who played a keyrole in efforts to radicaliseKashmiri youngsters to join theterror group. Huzaifa had firstjoined the Lashkar-e-Tayyebabefore upgrading to the ISIS.Huzaifa was killed in a dronestrike in Afghanistan.

Shaheen Bagh in SoutheastDelhi has been witnessing amassive protest against theCAA, where hundreds ofwomen have been conductinga sit-in since December 15.

The riots in Northeast dis-trict that singed the nationalCapital and took the lives of 44persons (unconfirmed figure is50 as six more bodies are yet tobe identified) and injuring 298,had started as clashes betweenthe anti-CAA protesters andthose supporting the law.

The Centre has repeatedlyinsisted that the protest againstthe CAA is conspiracy by forcesinimical to the interest of thecountry. The BJP used it exten-sively during its campaign forthe Delhi Assembly elections,held on February 8 this year.

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Former LawMinister and

senior Congressleader Hans RajBhardwaj, who also served asGovernor of Kerala andKarnataka, died after a cardiacarrest at Max Hospital here onSunday evening. He was 83.

Bhardwaj was admitted inhospital since Wednesday dueto kidney-related issues. He willbe cremated at theNighambodh Ghat onMonday at 4 pm, his son ArunBhardwaj said. He is survivedby his wife, a son and twodaughters.

Prime Minister NarendraModi expressed grief over thedeath of former Union Ministerand Congress veteran.“Anguished by the passingaway of former Minister ShriHans Raj Bhardwaj... Mythoughts are with his familyand well-wishers in this hour ofgrief. Om Shanti,” the PMOtweeted quoting Modi.

Detailed report on P5

����� #89��8:�;

Taking the lead in payingtributes to women on the

occasion of InternationalWomen’s Day, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi handed overhis social media accounts onSunday to seven womenachievers of different fields toshare their success stories.

The women chosen to useModi’s accounts includedSneha Mohandoss, who worksto eradicate hunger; MalvikaIyer, who survived a gruesomebomb blast that blew off herhands and damaged her legswhen she was 13 and is now amotivational speaker, disabili-ty activist and model; andArifa Jaan from Kashmir whopromotes traditional crafts ofKashmir.

Others were KalpanaRamesh, a water conservator;Vijaya Pawar, who promoteshandicrafts from the Banjaracommunity of ruralMaharashtra; Kalavati Devi ofKanpur, who collects money tobuild toilets; and Veena Devi,who is from Munger in Bihar

and made her nameby growingm u s h r o o m sunder her beddue to lack ofspace. Socialmedia waseagerly wait-ing to knowwho were allselected by thePrime Minister,as he had declaredto hand over hisTwitter, Facebook,Instagram and Youtubeaccounts to womenachievers last week.

Before handing over hisaccounts, the Prime Ministeron Sunday morning sharedbrief videos of the women onhis Twitter and Instagrampages and their achievementson his Facebook page. Theachievements were sharedunder #SheInspiresUs. SnehaMohandoss, inspired by hermother, started an initiativecalled Foodbank India. Sheworks with volunteers, many ofwhom are outside India, toeradicate hunger.

“We haveover 20 chap-

ters and havei m p a c t e ds e v e r a lpeople withour work.We also ini-tiated activ-ities like

mass cook-ing, cooking

m a r a t h o n s ,breastfeedingawareness dri-ves,” she wrote

on Modi’s Twitteraccount. Before oper-ating PM’s Twitteraccount, she tweeted

from her account that she isgoing to operate PM’s accounton Sunday.

Malvika Iyer survived agruesome bomb blast at the ageof 13 that blew off her handsand severely damaged her legs.“Giving up is never an option.Forget your limitations andtake on the world with confi-dence and hope,” she wrote onthe Prime Minister’s handle.

Iyer is a motivational

speaker, disability activist anda model. Arifa Jaan fromKashmir had always dreamt ofreviving the traditional crafts ofKashmir as, according to her,this was a means to empowerlocal women.

“I saw the condition ofwomen artisans and so I beganworking to revise “namda”craft... When tradition meetsmodernity, wonders can hap-pen. I experienced this in mywork. It is designed to suit themodern day market,” she wrote.Introducing herself, KalpanaRamesh, a water conservator,said, “be a warrior but of a dif-ferent kind. Be a water warrior”.

“Small efforts can make abig impact... Contribute byusing water responsibly, har-vesting rainwater, saving lakes,recycling used water and cre-ating awareness,” she wrote.Vijaya Pawar promotes hand-icrafts from the Banjara com-munity of rural Maharashtra. “Ihave been working on this forthe last two decades and havebeen assisted by a thousandmore women,” she wrote.

Continued on Page 4

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Awar of words broke outbetween the BJP and the

Congress on Sunday over theYes Bank crisis with the rulingparty seeking to link it with theGandhi family, while theOpposition wondered if thePrime Minister and FinanceMinister were “complicit” asthe bank’s loan book grewmanifold.

Posting on Twitter a clip ofa news channel report thatRana Kapoor, the arrested YesBank founder, had bought apainting from Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, BJP’sinformation and technologywing in-charge Amit Malviyaalleged that every financialcrime in India has “deep links”with the Gandhis.

Congress termed thecharge “fake”. It said PriyankaGandhi Vadra had sold an MFHussain painting of her fatherRajiv Gandhi to Kapoor for �2crore, and the entire amountwas disclosed in her income

tax return of 2010.Malviya tweeted, “Every

financial crime in India hasdeep link with the Gandhis.Mallya used to send flightupgrade tickets to SoniaGandhi. Had access to MMS(Manmohan Singh) and PC (PChidambaram). Is absconding.Rahul inaugurated NiravModi’s bridal jewellery collec-tion, he defaulted. Ranabought Priyanka Vadra’s paint-ings.”

Rubbishing the allegation,Congress spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi said itwas a “diversionary” tactic bythe Government. He notedthat the bank’s loan book rosefrom �55,633 crore in March2014, the year Narendra Modibecame Prime Minister, to �2,41,499 crore in March 2019.

Continued on Page 4

New Delhi : The DelhiGovernment has ordered DTCand cluster buses, Delhi Metroand hospitals to be disinfectedon a regular basis as a precau-tionary measure to deal withnovel coronavirus, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal saidon Sunday. See P3

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Italy: Italy’s death toll from thenew coronavirus shot up by 133to 366 on Sunday while thenumber of infections rose by asingle-day record of 1,492 to hit7,375. Italy has recorded themost deaths of any countryoutside China and the second-most infections in the world.

Detailed report on P12

Page 2: 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

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In order to avoid any seriousand untoward incident and

maintain a peaceful day onHoli (Dhulendi, to be cele-brated on Tuesday), the Delhitraffic Police has made elabo-rate arrangements to ensure thesafety of motorists on roadsand check the incidents ofdrunken driving.

Over 170 traffic picketsand the district police will bedeployed to ensure a peacefuland safe Holi celebration onTuesday, they said. Delhi traf-fic police will also deployaround 1,600 staff for the pur-pose.

Delhi Traffic police hasalso deployed special teams tostop the violations of 'roadsafety rules' such as riding byminors, driving, riding withoutwearing a helmet, performingstunts on two-wheelers, cross-ing red lights and so on.

"Special checking teamswith alcometers will bedeployed at major intersectionsand vulnerable points to detectand prosecute traffic violations,"said the traffic police officialadding, "Special Traffic Policechecking teams with intercep-tors along with Police Control

Room (PCR) and Local Policeteams will be stationed on var-ious roads and strategic loca-tions and intersections acrossthe national capital to checkdrunken driving, Red Lightjumping, etc. Interceptors willbe deployed at various vulner-able roads to check incidencesof over-speeding."

Further, Delhi Police addedthat as per the directions ofSupreme Court Committee(SCC) on Road Safety, in cases

of drunken driving, red lightjumping, using a mobile phonewhile driving, dangerous dri-ving and over speeding, dri-ving license will also be seizedand liable for suspension for aperiod of minimum threemonths.

"Strict action and Firstinformation Report (FIR) willalso be initiated against the reg-istered owners of vehicleswhose vehicles are found to bedriven by minors, unautho-

rized persons, performingstunts, driving without licenseand others by violating the roadsafety rules," said a senior traf-fic police official.

Delhi Traffic Police furtheradvised the motorists and cit-izens to obey traffic rules espe-cially has asked not to drinkand drive, observe prescribedspeed limits, obey traffic sig-nals, not to indulge in racing orcompetition with other vehi-cles, especially two-wheelerdrivers and riders to wear hel-mets and avoid triple riding.Also not to indulge in reckless,dangerous or zig-zag drivingand also directed the parents tonot allow minors/unauthorizedpersons to drive your vehicle.

"Delhi Traffic Policeappeals to all motorists toavoid traffic violations espe-cially drunken driving, overspeeding, triple riding, ridingwithout helmet, driving inwrong carriage way, etc.Parents should not allow theirminors to drive vehicles. Allmotorists are advised to obeytraffic rules and regulationsand follow the directions of thetraffic policemen on duty fortheir safety as well as the safe-ty of other road users," addedthe official.

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Aportion of a flyover at theDelhi-Jaipur rail line near

Pataudi collapsed on Saturday.The flyover was inauguratedby the Haryana Public WealthDepartment in September2019 and collapsed just fivemonths after its unveiling.

Officials of the PWD saidthat while the investigationwill take 2-3 days to con-clude, initial inspection sug-gests that the base structurewas weakened due to heavyrainfall. The officials have alsocalled the contractor to launcha thorough investigation.

"It is early to say anythingabout the issue but prima facieit appears that due to heavy rainover the past few days, rainwa-ter might have seeped insidesome pillars and weakened thestructure. After an investiga-tion, the actual reason behindthe damage will be ascertained,"said Pradeep Singh Sandhu,SDO of the department.

The locals, however, haveblamed PWD for ignoring it.A few months ago, the flyoverhad developed gaps but thedepartment ignored thealarms raised by the residents.

However, no casualty was

reported, the estimated cost ofthe flyover was �14 crore andwas inaugurated by then PWDMinister Rao Narbir Singh inSeptember, 2019.

Soon after the incident, thepolice sealed the flyover andstopped the traffic movementto facilitate the investigation bythe Public Works Department(PWD). PWD officials suspectheavy rains might have causedthe collapse.

The village head(sarpanch) reported the inci-dent to the concerned policestation and the district admin-istration.

"Around 10 am, wereceived information that alarge part of the flyover hasfallen down. We immediatelyrushed to the spot to investi-gate. We have sealed both

ends of the f lyover anddeployed four constables toensure nobody accesses it"said a police official.

Just a few minutes beforethe accident, two trucks andfew small vehicles had crossedthe damaged portion and hada narrow escape. "Thankfully,it was morning and the traffic

was lean because of the week-end," said Narender, who waspresent at the spot.

"The stretch served as avital link between Gurugramand Rewari. Now that the fly-over is sealed, the locals claimthat reaching Rewari fromGurugram will require an extratrip of 5 km", said a villager.

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Delhi Sikh GurdwaraM a n a g e m e n t

Committee (DSGMC) onSunday distributed free pro-tective masks in the nation-al Capital to prevent thetransmission of coronavirusamong common citizens.

Manjinder Singh SirsaPresident DSGMC said thatfree protective masks will bedistributed among all historicGurdwaras in national capitaland in the beginning 10,000free protective mask were dis-tributed among common cit-izens at historic GurdwaraBangla Sahib among presenceof office bearer of DSGMC ina function held on Sunday.

Sirsa said that decision todistribute free medical maskhas been taken in view of ris-ing demand of the face maskswhich has resulted in chargingexorbitant prices for products

by the big pharma companies.He told that DSGMC has

taken the various initiatives tocheck person-to-person trans-mission to check new waves ofinfections and stop virus fromfurther transmission.

"All Gurdwara has beenasked to take proactive steps toregularly clean and sanitize all

Gurdwara Compexes to preventany respiratory illness," he said,adding that hand sanitizationhas been made mandatory for allvisitors at DSGMC office com-plex at Gurdwara Rakab Ganjand DSGMC volunteer areassisting and guiding the visitorsfor hand sanitizations to protectfrom airborne illnesses.

Sirsa further said thatDSGMC will promote the prac-tice of frequent hand-washingwith soap and water byGurdwara devotees during theirvisit to holy shrines and allGurdwara complexes will beextensively cleaned and sanitizedin order to prevent transmissionof the virus.

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On the occassion of Holi onMarch 10, the public

transport services, includingDelhi Metro, will remain sus-pended till 2.30 pm on all linesof Delhi Metro services includ-ing Airport Express Line.While DTC services will besuspended only till 2:00 pm.

The metro feeder buseswill also be off road till 2.30pm. "On the day of the 'Holi'festival, i.e., 10th March, 2020(Tuesday), Metro services willnot be available till 14.30 Hrs(2:30 PM) on all lines of DelhiMetro including AirportExpress Line. In addition,Metro feeder bus services willalso not be available on 10thMarch 2020," said a official ofDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC).

Metro train services willthus start at 14.30 Hrs (2:30PM) from terminal stations onall lines on 10th March andwill continue normally there-after, they added.

While, the DTC officialssaid, "DTC Service will remainsuspended in morning shift onDulehndi festival. Keeping inview the "Dulhendi Festival"which will be celebrated onTuesday, all the City andNational Capital Region(NCR) Bus services willremain suspended till2:00 pm."

The DTC official furtheradded that, "In Evening Shift,bus services on some selected

bus routes will be operated asper traffic requirement. Sincethe traffic load will be very lesson this day, only 898 buses willbe operated in the afternoonservice."

Moreover, the NoidaMetro Rail Corporation(NMRC) has also declared thesuspension of the services onthe Noida-Greater Noida onTuesday till 2:00 pm. The cur-tailed timings will also applyfor parking at all metro sta-tions, its operator the NoidaMetro Rail Corporation(NMRC) said in a statement.

"Metro train services willbegin at 2 pm on the AquaLine on March 10 and will con-tinue as per normal timingsthereafter. Trains will ply at aninterval of 15 minutes. Parkingfacility at all the stations willalso be available only from 2pm on March 10," said theNMRC in a statement.

The Aqua Line, which cov-ers the twin cities in GautamBuddh Nagar district, coversa total length of 29.7 km with21 metro stations. On normaldays, the metro services beginat 6 am and continue till 10 pmexcept on Sundays when theservices begin at 8 am.

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On International women'sday, a Delhi based woman

started a petition, urging UnionHealth Minister Harsh Vardhanto curb panic around coron-avirus amid rising cases and itsfear gripping among the peoplein India.

An East Delhi resident,Seema Mishra, on Sunday, ini-tiated a petition at an onlinepetitioning platform Change.orgIndia with the name of'Change.org/CurbThePanic',asking the Health Minister toregulate the supply and pricingof masks and hand sanitisersand to curb panic. She alsourged the health minister toissue clear guidelines to preventhoarding of these products.

"My Change.org petitionurges the government to step in

and regulate prices, and alsoensure that there is no hoard-ing," said Seema Mishra.

Mishra, the Registrar andAcademic Head of a businessschool in NCR, had run a cam-paign in the past also at thesame platform for cleaninginfamous Ghazipur Landfillwith the name of 'Dilli kakachra Pahaad' in October2019. The campaign led tocricketer-turned-East Delhi MPGautam Gambhir inauguratinga clean-up project there.

Mishra takes keen interestin gender equality with specialfocus on women's economicempowerment, and fightingpollution. Her petitionChange.org/CurbThePanicover the coronavirus has gar-nered huge support and hascrossed 30,000 signatures as onSunday.

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The Delhi Police on Sundaysaid it has filed over 700

cases and nabbed nearly 2,400people in connection with therecent communal violence innorth-east Delhi.

In total, 2,387 people havebeen either detained or arrest-ed in relation to the violence thatbroke out last month in north-east Delhi, they said.

According to police, out ofthe 702 cases filed, 49 have beenregistered under the Arms Act.

They also said 283 meetingshave been held with the AmanCommittees in violence-hit areasof northeast Delhi

Meanwhile, a Delhi courton Sunday sent two persons tocustodial remand for their

alleged involvement in the recentanti-CAA violence in northeastDelhi. Duty Magistrate of

Karkardooma court remandedLiyakat to 14 days' judicial cus-tody and Riyasat to three days'

police custody.The duo, along with one

other, were taken into custody

on Saturday after details of theirinvolvement in violence inChand Bagh area emerged dur-ing questioning of suspendedAAP councillor Tahir Hussain.

Hussain is currently inpolice custody in connectionwith the killing of IntelligenceBureau (IB) staffer AnkitSharma, and for involvement inthe riots.

The violence that broke outin North East Delhi has led tothe death of 22 people while over200 individuals have sustainedinjuries. Many properties includ-ing shops, vehicles, houses andeven a petrol pump were setablaze by protesters during theclashes.

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New Delhi: Investigators onSunday recreated the crimescene along with accusedShahrukh Pathan at Maujpur innortheast Delhi where he hadallegedly opened fire during therecent communal violence inthe area, police said.

The crime branch of DelhiPolice, probing the murdercases registered during theriots, tried to find empty shellsat the spot, officials said.

Pathan, 23, whose pictureshowing him pointing a gun atan unarmed policeman duringthe violent clashes went viral onsocial media, was arrested onMarch 3 from Uttar Pradesh'sShamli district.

A court here sent him topolice remand for four daysthat ended on Saturday, fol-lowing which the court sent

him to three more days' policecustody.

Police have registered acase against Pathan under rel-evant sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) and theArms Act.

On Friday, the pistol thathe pointed at a police officialduring the communal violencewas recovered from his house,according to police.

On Saturday, the UP Policearrested in Shamli district analleged drug trafficker who issuspected to have helpedPathan in escaping to Haryanaafter the riots.

In the viral video, Pathan,a resident of northeast Delhi'sGhonda, could be seen point-ing his pistol at the policemanon the Jaffrabad-Maujpur roadon February 24. PTI

New Delhi: A city court here onSunday sent father-son duoLiaquat Ali and Riyasat Ali,arrested for leading a mob inChandbagh area during therecent communal violence, to 14days' judicial custody and threedays' police custody respective-ly, officials said.

According to police, Liaquatand his son Riyasat both workedfor suspended AAP councillorTahir Hussain. They were pre-sent at the terrace of Hussain'shouse and were leading a mobwho was throwing stones andpetrol bombs, police havealleged.

Earlier on Saturday,Shahrukh Pathan, who pointeda pistol at a police official dur-ing riots in Maujpur, was sent tothree more days' police custody.

On Friday, police recov-ered the pistol from his house,they said. PTI

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New Delhi: Delhi's ShaheenBagh, the epicentre of protestagainst the new citizenship law,was abuzz with women fromseveral parts of the countryjoining the agitation onInternational Women's Day.

The protesters at ShaheenBagh were joined by womenfrom Lucknow, where a similarprotest is underway for over 50days, nearby Ghaziabad, riot-hitJaffrabad in Delhi and socialworkers on Sunday.

Several women under thebanner of Pragatisheel MahilaSangathan visited ShaheenBagh.

The women, staging theprotest for nearly three months,said the support is encouragingand they are firm that the gov-ernment take back theCitizenship Amendment Actand drop the idea of theNational Register of Citizens.

With chants of 'InquilabZindabad' and 'HindustanZindabad', the protestorsappeared upbeat.

The male volunteers saidthe peaceful protest at ShaheenBagh has gotten bigger despitethe recent violence in Delhi.

"We are sitting here for last85 days and we firmly believethat government will have totake back CAA and NRC. Weare getting support from acrossthe country and we are happythat several persons, includingwomen, have come here tojoin us," said Fatima, who is alocal resident of Shaheen Bagh.

Prof Chaman Lal, the hon-orary advisor to Delhi's BhagatSingh Archives and ResourceCentre, saluted the "bravewomen" on InternationalWomen's Day and said theyare an inspiration for thewhole world. PTI

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Following the meeting of theState level task force, Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Sunday announced variousmeasures to control the out-break of the coronavirusincluding separate facilities forcollection of samples at varioushospitals, conducting thermalscreening of the passengers atairport among others.

Kejriwal also said that therewas no need for the healthy towear masks, but asked peopleto wash their hands with soapfrequently.

His comments came amidsurge in demand for masks andhand sanitizers in the marketafter three confirmed Covid-19cases were reported in Delhi.

"If a healthy person wearsa mask, there are circumstanceswhen one might use theirhands to adjust the mask. Insuch case, you are putting

yourself at the risk of gettinginfected and get exposed," theChief Minister said in reply toa question

Kejriwal, who chaired themeeting of task force, said thatairport authorities have beendirected to conduct thermal

screening of the passengers.The Delhi government hasdeployed 40 doctors for thesame. Those from Delhi arealso being monitored consis-tently for 14 days. Around 1,40,603 passengers have beenscreened and put under sur-

veillance," he said. The chief minister said

that now 25 hospitals have thefacilities where one can submitthe samples. Out of the 25 hos-pitals, six are private hospitalswhile others are those of theDelhi Government.

"We are making separatefacilities for collection of sam-ples and treatment in thesehospitals so that if any patientarrives there, they don't comein contact with others," hesaid.

The Delhi government willrequest the Centre to impose aban on travel to countries thathave recorded a large numberof coronavirus cases, he said.

Kejriwal said he will meetUnion Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan on Monday torequest a ban on travel tocountries with a large numberof COVID-19 cases.

The Government had setup a task force to take preven-

tive measures against the spreadof novel corona virus (COVID-19) in the national capital. Thetask force has representativesfrom all agencies concerned,including municipal corpora-tions and the Delhi police.

Dr Nutan Mundeja,Director General of HealthServices and Dr Sujeet KumarSingh, director of NCDC whowere also present with Kejriwalduring press conference, pre-sented a comprehensiveoverview of corona virus and toelucidate how contagious thedisease is.

Dr Mundeja said, "Coronavirus is a respiratory virus andthe symptoms of the problemare cough and cold. The virusinfection is contagious, whichmeans a person can spread thevirus through coughing andsneezing in the form of droplets,which can be at a short range of1-1.25 meters," he said.

"Everyone should cover

their mouth and nose whilecoughing and sneezing so thatno droplets can reach otherpersons' eyes, nose or mouth.It is advisable to use tissues orcover your face through elbowsinstead of cloth handkerchief toavoid transmission of the virus.Second, if the droplets do notreach another person, they set-tle on a surface, which can thenbe touched by various people,"he said," adding that thesedroplets lose their effects in twodays on hard surfaces and in 7-8 days on soft surfaces.

"It is very likely for peopleto touch these surfaces and thentouch their eyes, nose, andmouth, which increases thechances of the virus enteringthe body. This is the reason whywe are asking people to washtheir hands repeatedly, as wellas to not touch unwanted sur-faces in public areas," he added.

Elaborating it further, DrMundeja said "If a healthy per-

son wears masks consistentlyfor hours, he or she may feeluncomfortable. They willadjust their masks and touchtheir faces with their handswhich may have touched someunwanted surfaces," he said.

Explaining disadvantagesof wearing mask, Dr SujeetKumar Singh, Director ofNCDC, said that wearingmasks in the public gives a falsesense of security to the peopleand also develop a false narra-tive that the person wearing amask might be infected.

"It is advised to only wearthe masks if you are sufferingfrom cold and cough, or if youhave returned from outstationand going to get yourselfchecked for any symptoms thatyou may notice. In case younotice symptoms, make sure touse private transport instead ofpublic commute," he said.

"Everyone wants to pur-chase an N95 mask nowadays,

which is not required. N95masks are only required forhealthcare workers, who arecollecting samples for testing inthe labs, and doctors who areexamining the patients. Otherthan that, even nurses do notrequire these masks. Also, mar-kets have been flooded withpeople asking for hand sani-tizers. Washing hands withregular soap and water for 20seconds is enough," he said

The Delhi Governmentalso announced a 24X7 state-district level control roomhelpline numbers 011-22307145/ 011-22300012/22300036.

Delhi has recorded threepositive cases of coronavirus— a 45-year-old man fromMayur Vihar, the Paytmemployee who works inGurgaon and lives in westDelhi and another man fromwest Delhi with a travel histo-ry to Thailand and Malaysia.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said the Delhi

Government has ordered DelhiTransport Corporation (DTC)and cluster buses, metro andhospitals to be disinfected on aregular basis as a precautionarymeasure to deal with the novelcoronavirus.

Addressing the media,Kejriwal said that three cases ofcorona virus have been report-ed in Delhi so far and one caseis still under investigation. "Thefirst patient came in contactwith 105 people, the secondcame in contact with 168 peo-ple, and the third patient camein contact with 64 people in thelast 14 days. All these people arebeing quarantined and theirsamples have been taken forexamination," he said.

The Chief Minister appealed

to the people in Delhi that if any-body from their neighbourhoodhad returned from foreign coun-tries in the past 14 days, theyshould inform the Government.

Kejriwal said the govern-ment was fully prepared to dealwith the novel coronavirus,adding that people do not needto panic. "I request all people ofDelhi to cooperate in order tocontain the spread of Corona. Inthe last 10 days, the Governmenthas been able to contain thespread of Corona Virus withyour cooperation," he added.

He also urged people towash their hands frequentlywith soap and water. "All pas-sengers at the airport are beingscreened. 40 doctors ofGovernment hospitals aredeployed at the airports for thepurpose. "I want to appeal tothe people of Delhi to informus about those who have trav-

eled abroad recently. Most ofthe corona virus cases so farhave been from those whohave traveled back from othercountries. Even though there isa ban on people traveling backfrom these countries, there isstill no ban on people travelingto these countries," he said.Kejriwal also appealed toemployers to give paid leave tothose quarantined so that theirlivelihood is not affected.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendra Jain said that peoplewho do not have any symptomsare not required to give any sam-ples in the hospitals. "Only peo-ple who have returned fromabroad and are showing symp-toms are required to give sam-ples in the hospitals," he said.Conveying his greetings for Holi,Kejriwal urged people of Delhito avoid going to crowded areasand save themselves from virus.

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In a stern move, the DelhiGovernment has ordered 87

retired officers and unauthorisedoccupants to vacate official flatsimmediately and cough up near-ly �4 crore as dues.

The Government has issuedeviction orders to these retiredofficers who have not vacatedGovernment flats even aftertheir retirement and warnedthem that they will be removedalong with their belongings ifthey do not comply with theorder.

Last month, the publicworks department (PWD) hadlaunched a door-to-door surveyof all the housing units andasked officials to submit a reportby February 24, an exercise thatwas aimed at finding out illegaloccupants of Government flatsin the national capital.

According to an official, thePWD issued an order onFebruary 25 stating that therewere around 27 retired officialswho occupied Type-I flats andwere asked to pay around �58.16lakh as their dues.

The official said that thedepartment has directed these87 retired officials to pay around�3.98 crore as their dues.

"The non-compliance of theorder would attract action underthe Public Premises (Eviction ofUnauthorised Occupants) Act-1971 and the eviction proceed-ings will be initiated and occu-pants will be removed or evict-ed along with their respective

belongings," the PWD said in itsorder. He said that around 49retired officials have not vacat-ed their Type-II flats and havebeen asked to pay dues of �2.19crore. The official said thatthere were 11 illegal occupantswho have occupied Type-IIIflats, adding that they have beenasked to vacate their governmentaccommodation immediatelyand pay �1.2 crore.

The move comes days afterthe Delhi High Court rebukedthe Housing Ministry for per-mitting over 550 accommoda-tion units to be illegally occupiedby retired officials and orderedthe Centre to get them vacatedwithin two weeks.

On February 5, the courthad also said that allowing ille-gal occupation of Governmentaccommodation for severalyears amounts to "connivanceand conspiracy".

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Sunday salut-

ed all women for shaping soci-ety and building the nation.

The Chief Minister greet-ed women on the occasion ofInternational Women's Day.

"Wish all my sisters, moth-ers and daughters a happy#WomensDay. It is very heart-ening to see the growing accessto opportunities forwomen"Only when womenand men become truly equalpartners can we progress. Mysalute to all women for shapingour society and building ournation," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, RuralEducation and Welfare Society(REWS) organised an eventsponsored by GAIL (India)

limited in Mahaveer Enclave inthe gathering of 200 women onthe occasion on InternationalWomen's Day including thetheme of InternationalWomen's Day "equality".

The gathering wasaddressed by Supreme Courtadvocate Sweta. REWS presi-dent Nainu Singh, JayshreeDubey, Unnati Singh, Swati,Sangya were among othersparticipated in the event. Theprogram was concluded onhigh spirit with motivationaland encouraging speeches. Theparticipants also shared theirexperience with the gathering.

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Khatauli BJP MLA VikramSaini has demanded capi-

tal punishment to those foundguilty behind the death ofIntelligence Bureau stafferAnkit Sharma during the com-munal violence in Delhi lastmonth.

Speaking to media inKhatauli town on Saturdayevening, the UP legislator saidstrict action should be takenagainst the guilty and also sup-ported the statement made byfellow BJP MLA Sangeet Somthat the "killers should be shotdead on the road".

Few days ago, theSardhana MLA had said inMuzaffarnagar after a courthearing that those behind theIB official’s death should beshot dead.

New Delhi: Amid uncertaintiesover the leadership issue, seniorCongress leader and formerUnion Minister Ajay Makenhas said it is high time RahulGandhi comes back as partypresident as he is the mostacceptable leader.

The former president of theCongress’ Delhi unit, Maken, inan interview to PTI, also bat-ted for veterans to graduallymake way for younger leaders,saying if parties do not changetheir leadership with time,then people change parties.

Vouching for RahulGandhi as Congress chief, hesaid there is no other face asacceptable as Rahul who alsohas good intent at heart, zerobaggage and consistently takesan aggressive stand in fightingagainst the might of the BJPand Prime Minister NarendraModi.

Maken also argued for along-term advisory role forinterim president Sonia Gandhi

saying her experience andexpertise in handling Congressaffairs would be much neededby the new president.

The party constitution canbe amended to ensure that, hesaid."I think it is high timeRahul Gandhi came back. I amsaying this with very strongconviction and strong reasonsbehind this. Rahul Gandhi isuniversally acceptable in theCongress party. There is noother face who is as muchacceptable as Rahul Gandhi is,”Maken said.

“So, a person who is uni-versally acceptable, no bag-gage, good intent at heart andwho has been consistent andmost aggressive against theBJP and Modi, and has beenthe voice amplifier of farmers,Dalits and minorities. I think,he single-handedly deservesto be Congress president,” hesaid.

Asked about what wouldbe the right time for Rahul

Gandhi to return, Maken said,“the sooner, the better, becauseit will end uncertainty.”

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala alsosaid Prime Minister Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah aredeeply wary of the unwaveringconviction and fearlessnesswith which Rahul Gandhi hastaken on the BJP and theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS).

"Rahul Gandhi has ade-quately proved his mettle. Time

has come to rise above theparochial issues of regionalleadership and work towardsstrengthening and rebuildingthe Congress. Needless to addthat Rahul Gandhi is the obvi-ous and only choice to lead theCongress," he said.

Maken noted that thecountry needs a person with"good intent at heart, not goodcontent in speech".

"We have seen the countryis paying the price to just fol-low good content in speech and

the present situation whereour country is in, the economyis in doldrums, there is a socialstrife, the riots going on in thenational capital and the gov-ernment not doing anything, isjust because the people votedfor good content in speech ofNarendra Modi. They neversaw the intent at heart of theleader," the Congress leadersaid.

Commenting on the oldversus young debate in theCongress, Maken stronglyargued for gradual change ofguard in the party and said par-ties must change their leader-ship in time.

“I am among the biggestsupporters for change, but ithas to be gradual. It can’t be inone big sudden change. But ithas to be there. That change isrequired because if the partiesdon’t change their leadership intime, then the people changethe parties,” he said, adding thatthe electorate wants

change. On whether Congress vet-

erans will be given an adviso-ry role, he said it should be vol-untary and not be imposed onthem, as has happened in thecase of party veterans in theBJP.

On voices backing organ-isational elections in theCongress, Maken said elec-tions to the post of party pres-ident and working committeemembers alone would not help,and an overall organisationalpoll from bottom to up isneeded.

“Only elections for thepresident or the working com-mittee will not empower theworkers,” said Maken.He noted that Rahul Gandhihas championed holding elec-tions not only for the workingcommittee, and president, buta series of elections at all lev-els in a transparent manner.

“That is what RahulGandhi has always stood for.

He has wanted transparentelections throughout and eventicket distribution should beheld through primaries andelections, where workersshould decide who should begiven the ticket,” Maken said.

On the Congress sufferingtwo general election setbacksunder Rahul Gandhi, he said asfar as winning and losing elec-tions is concerned, this is partof the process.

“How many electionsunder Atal Bihari Vajpayee didthe BJP had win. In the 1990sthe Vajpayee-Advani duoalways used to lose election.The BJP never threw theirleaders out of the party, as itwas, they who got the BJP intopower,” the former Union min-ister said. Maken also calledfor spelling out clearly theCongress’ ideology on issues ofsocial, economic and national-ism, to avoid leaders speakingin different voices in public onkey issues. PTI

Kolkata: A diabetic man died inthe isolation ward of a hospital inWest Bengal’s Murshidabad dis-trict on Sunday, a day after he wasadmitted there with suspectedsymptoms of coronavirus follow-ing his return from Saudi Arabia.

According to doctors, he wasadmitted to the hospital withfever, cough and cold.

Though test results of hisblood and swab samples for novelcoronavirus were awaited, it canbe said that Janarul Haque diedprobably of diabetes, Director ofHealth Services Ajay Chakrabortytold PTI.

"The man was highly diabet-ic and was on insulin. He returnedhome from Saudi Arabia and hadno money to take insulin for thelast three to four days.

"He was also suffering fromfever, cough and cold. He wasadmitted to the isolation ward of

the Murshidabad Medical Collegeand Hospital yesterday and diedtoday," the health services direc-tor said.

"We are waiting for the resultsof medical tests. The possibility ofhis death due to novel coronavirusinfection is remote," he said.

However, precautions will betaken during the last rites ofHaque according to the directivesset by the central and state gov-ernments for patients who die ofthe virus, another senior officialsaid.

"Family members will not beallowed to touch the body sincethe man had been suffering fromcough and breathlessness. Thoseperforming his last rites will begiven protective gear, masks andgloves. Though test results are yetto be known, we do not want totake any chance," he said.

Meanwhile, the state health

department has issued a directiveto all private medical facilities tocreate a system for assessing allpatients at admission allowingearly recognition of possibleCovid-19 infection and immedi-ate isolation of patients with sus-pected nCoV infection in an areaseparate from other patients.

As per the directive, privatehospitals should "ensure space forutilisation as isolation ward.Person testing positive for Covid-19 should remain hospitalisedtill two of their samples are test-ed negative as per the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare’s dis-charge policy".

It has also asked all privatemedical facilities to "apply stan-dard precautions for all patients bymedical masks and perform handhygiene after contact with respi-ratory secretions". PTI

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Mumbai: A 54-year-old karateteacher in Mumbai has beenarrested for allegedly molestinga 12-year-old girl student, policesaid on Sunday. According topolice, the incident occurred inthe sports room of the school inSion on Friday, a police officialsaid.The accused also tried to molestthe girl by visiting her house, hesaid. He was arrested on Fridayitself under section 354 (Assaultor criminal force to woman withintent to outrage her modesty)of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)and sections of the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offence(POCSO) Act. PTI

Kozhikode: Authoritiesbegan culling of domesti-cated birds and hens nearhere on Sunday, as part ofthe Kerala Governmentsprecautionary measuresfollowing the outbreak ofbird f lu, officials said.

The health authoritiesculled birds within a one-km raidus of two poultryfarms at nearby Vengeriand Kodiyathoor wherethe outbreak was reportedlast week.

Nearly 200 trainedstaff and support membersin as many as 25 rapidresponse squads of fiveeach are in the process ofculling an estimated 12,000birds mostly chickenbesides turkey and lovebirds.

The officials in pro-

tective gear are engaged inthe culling operation. Thecarcasses are also beingburnt.

The process of cullingand disinfection is likely toextend for two more days.As per our census, an esti-mated 12,000 birds will beculled in three days, saidthe District AnimalHusbandry Officer DrSindhu Krishnan.

Meanwhile, theCorporation health offi-cials seized pet birds froma street-side vendor inThondayad near here aspart of the district admin-istration’s initiative inchecking the spread of thedisease.

According toCorporation sources, thetrader had some deadbirds also. PTI

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New Delhi: Women’s partici-pation in armed forces hasincreased over the years,Defence Minister RajnathSingh said on Sunday andexpressed the view that nodoor in the forces shouldremain closed for them.

Citing the example of TaniaShergill, who led an all-mencontingent in the Republic DayParade this year, Singh saidwomen are now leading onmany fronts which were oncenot even open for them.

Speaking at the NITIAayog-organised ‘WomenTransforming India Awards",

he said it is the priority of theModi government to furtherempower women in armedforces.

The increasing presenceof women in workforce is con-tributing to the economicgrowth of the nation and thesociety develops with theirupliftment, he was quoted assaying in a statement.

Women participation isnecessary for the country toachieve the target of becomingthe USD 5 trillion economy, hesaid, adding that no door ofarmed forces should remainclosed for them. PTI

Hyderabad: Vice-PresidentM Venkaiah Naidu onSunday emphasised on edu-cational and economicempowerment for womenand said no country couldprogress if they were deniedequal opportunities.

Delivering his address atthe inaugural of iWIN(International WomenNetwork) on the occasion ofWomens Day here, he said, "Itwas the duty of each one of usto see that no girl was left outof school."

An educated womanwould possess skills, self- con-fidence and could become abetter parent, an official pressrelease quoted Naidu as saying.

She would also providebetter nutrition and hence

ensure that her children arehealthy, he said.

In this aspect, the Vice-President expressed happinessover the tremendous impact ofBeti Bachao, Beti Padao onincreasing the gross enrolmentratio of girls across all levels.

Calling for a change inmindset, the Vice-Presidentsaid there was an urgent needto make boys respect girlsfrom a young age.

He said women werealways given a respectable placein Indian culture and traditionsand we need to go back to ourroots.

Noting that life alwaysneeds women, Naidu, in histrademark style, said- First, itis Vidya (education), thenLakshmi (wealth) and finally it

is Shakti and Shanti (peace)Describing spiritual symbols,the Vice-President said,"Whether we chant the Gayatri(mantra) or read the Gita(epic), or we do Vandana, Pujaor Aarti with Shraddha towardsGod to pray, we are still withwomen.

Maintaining that the great-est human values are feminine,Naidu said, When we growolder we want Karuna (com-passion) or Mamta (love).From those who are angrywith us we want Kshama (for-giveness). It is a womansworld, he said.

Observing that even afterseven decades ofIndependence, there were stillreports of gender discrimina-tion, atrocities and violence

against women, the Vice-President stressed that thereshould be zero tolerancetowards such social evils.

He called for meting outswift punishment to those whocommit crimes against womenand said that political will wasrequired to curb crimes againstwomen rather than merelybringing a new bill.

On the need for a specialemphasis on education andempowerment of rural women,the Vice-President said pro-moting literacy among ruralwomen and nurturing the spir-it of entrepreneurship amongthem would pave the way fortheir economic empowerment.

He also called for givingequal rights to women inancestral property, including

that of the agriculture land andsaid that there was an urgentneed to bring in uniformity inlaws across the country in thisregard.

Telangana GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan wasamong the dignitaries whowere present.

Earlier in the day, the Vice-President attended theWomens Day calebrationsorganised by DurgabaiDeshmukh Mahila Sabha(Andhra Mahila Sabha) here.

Addressing the gatheringat the event, he called uponthe youth to draw inspirationfrom the life of visionary lead-ers such as DurgabaiDeshmukh who dedicated herlife in the service of nation ata tender age of 12. PTI

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From Page1 “RBI closely monitors all

the banks and hereby assures alldepositors that there is no suchconcern of safety of theirdeposits in any bank,” its secondtweet said.

During the hearing, thedefence lawyer, however, saidKapoor has been selectivelytargeted by the ED and he iscooperating with the probeagency. “We are ready to coop-erate and submit all the docu-ments that the agency wants. Ihave fully cooperated withthem,” Kapoor said in the court.Kapoor was one of the fastestself-made billionaires. Kapoorstated in the court that theDoIT company is in name ofhis two daughters — RadhaKapoor and Roshni Kapoor. YesBank had given around �3,700crore loan to triple-A ratedDHFL company, and laterabout �600 crore was borrowedby DoIT Company fromDHFL, he said. The DoIT com-pany is still repaying the loanand it is not an NPA (non-per-forming asset), Kapoor said.“From the last few days I wasnot well, hence my familymembers took me to BreachCandy Hospital, but still I amcooperating with the ED,” hetold in the court.

However, the ED told thecourt that it wants to conduct

a through investigation and“many people are under thescanner”.

The crisis began to unfoldafter the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) noticed under-reportingof NPAs by the bank. Thebanking regulator cut shortKapoor’s tenure to January 31,2019. The ED began actionagainst the banker by raidinghis upscale residence in southMumbai on Friday and is inves-tigating Kapoor, his wife andthree daughters over a �600crore fund received by a firmallegedly “controlled” by themfrom an entity linked to thescam-hit Dewan HousingFinance Limited (DHFL).

Meanwhile, IndiabullsHousing Finance on Sundaysaid Yes Bank owes �662 crorein the form of bonds to thecompany and it has no termloans outstanding from thelender. “We wish to inform thatYes Bank owes to IndiabullsHousing Finance �662 crore viaadditional tier 1 (AT-1) bonds,”it said in a regulatory filing. Theinvestments in AT-1 bonds ofYes Bank were made in 2017, aspart of its treasury managementof over �20,000 crore of cashand when the bank was worthover $10 billion in value, it said.“Indiabulls Housing Financehas no term loans outstandingfrom Yes Bank,” it said.

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From Page1 China, where the epidem-

ic emerged in December, had80,695 cases, of which 3,097were fatal.

In keeping with the CentralGovernment’s advisory, theAssam Governmentannounced postponing 33rdGuwahati Bookfair, scheduledto be held later this month inthe wake of virus outbreak.

In Tamil Nadu, a 15-yearold boy who arrived inChennai from the US via Dohawith his father was sent to theRajiv Gandhi GovernmentGeneral Hospital in Chennai ashe showed some symptomsassociated with fever duringscreening at the airport, offi-cials said.

It is “learnt that the spreadof the coronavirus in India isprimarily from visitors whohad history of travelling abroadrecently or through tourists

who have visited India,” theArunanchal Pradesh govern-ment order said. “In order toprevent the spread of coron-avirus (Covid-19) in ArunachalPradesh, it has been decided totemporarily suspend issuingProtected Area Permit(PAP)...,” it added.

The Union HealthMinistry has asked the AIIMSadministration in New Delhi todesignate a part of the newemergency wing for setting upof isolation beds for suspectedCOVID-19 patients while sixother AIIMS have been direct-ed to keep an isolation bedcapacity between 12-15 forcoronavirus patients, whichcan be scaled up to 30 if needarises, an official said.

Besides, the ministry hasasked the National CancerInstitute (NCI) in Jhajjar,Haryana to augment its isola-tion bed capacity to 125 from

the existing 25. Also, theJawaharlal Institute of PostGraduate Medical Educationand Research (JIPMER),Pondicherry has been asked tokeep aside 13 beds for isolatingpatients.

The Delhi governmenthas ordered DTC and clusterbuses, metro and hospitals tobe disinfected on a regularbasis as a precautionary mea-sure to deal with the novelcoronavirus, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said onSunday.

The Union Health ministryhas made 52 laboratories func-tional for testing samples while57 labs have been designatedfor helping in sample collectionto enhance the capacity fordiagnosis and detection of thevirus. As of March 6, a totalof 4,058 samples from 3,404individuals have been tested bythe network, officials said.

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From Page1 “Why did the loan book rise by 100 per cent

in two years after demonetisation i.e from�98,210 crore in March 2016 to �2,03,534 crorein March 2018? Were the PM and the FM sleep-ing, ignorant or complicit?” he asked.

The entire amount Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

had received was in cheque and was fully disclosedin the income tax return, Singhvi said. Kapoor wasarrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) inMumbai after charges of alleged financial irreg-ularities and mismanagement in the bank’s oper-ations surfaced and the RBI and UnionGovernment initiated action to control its affairs.

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From Page1 Kalavati Devi of Kanpur in

Uttar Pradesh collected moneyto build toilets. She said if youwant to achieve something, donot look back and ignore thebitter words of people. “Theplace where I used to live, hadfilth all around. But there wasa strong belief that throughcleanliness we can change thissituation. I decided to convincepeople. Collected money tobuild toilets,” she said.

Veena Devi of Munger inBihar proved where there iswill, there is a way. She did notallow lack of space to createhurdles in her plan to cultivatemushrooms and grew the cropunder her bed. “Everythingcan be achieved by will. My realrecognition came from culti-vating one kilo of mushroomsunder the bed. This not onlymade me self-sufficient, butgave a new life by increasingmy confidence,” she said.

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Black carbon emitted due toindiscriminate burning of

paddy and sugarcane stubblehas not only put the NationalCapital Region (NCR) undersevere stress of pollution butbecause of its light-absorbingnature can also trigger meltingof the Gangotri glaciers in thehigh altitude eco-sensitiveIndian Himalayas in India.

Scientists from WadiaInstitute of HimalayanGeology, (WIHG) anautonomous institution underDepartment of Science andTechnology in their study con-ducted at Chirbasa station(3600 m) near Gangotri Glacierin 2016 found that black car-bon concentration changedfrom 0.01?gm?3 in winter to4.62?gm?3 during summer, iespiked by 400 times duringsummer.

This is for the first time,measurements on ambientblack carbon mass concentra-tion were made at such a highaltitude site in the IndianHimalayas.

The study suggests that

seasonal cycle of black carbonwas significantly influencedby the emissions resulting fromagriculture burning (in westernpart of the country), forestfires (along the Himalayanslopes) in summer, and tosome extent the contributionfrom long range transport ofpollutants in winter, dependingthe prevailing meteorologicalcondition as the reason behindthis seasonal increase.

The research led by Dr PSNegi from WIHG was pub-lished in the scientific journalAtmospheric Environment.

It was revealed byinvestigating the occasionalhigh values of black carbon

extricated, that the seasonalcycle of increase was signifi-cantly influenced by the emis-sions resulting from agricultureburning (in western part of thecountry), forest fires (alongthe Himalayan slopes) in sum-mer, and to some extent by thecontribution from long-rangetransport of pollutants in win-ter, depending the prevailingmeteorological condition.

This can trigger glacialmelt because of the light-absorbing nature of black car-bon, said the study, “Black car-bon aerosols in the ambient airof Gangotri Glacier valley ofnorth-western Himalaya inIndia.”

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Aparliamentary panel hasrecommended several

changes for ensuring good gov-ernance through improvedquality of civil servants and fill-ing up of vacancies in criticalagencies like IAS, Courts at dif-ferent levels, CBI, CVC, CIC,Income Tax Appellate Tribunaletc.

Voicing concern overshortage of 1,494 IAS officers,the Committee called foraddressing the problem ofdeficit of bureaucrats afflictingthe Indian administrationquickly.

Noting that 'Lateral Entry'of civil servants brings in qual-ified human resources, domainexpertise and new ideas, theCommittee suggested promo-tion of such lateral entrants tothe next higher level based ontheir performance.

Referring to 1281 vacanciesin the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) at variouslevels, the Committee notedthat such a huge shortage ofpersonnel may increase pen-dency, hamper the quality of

investigation and ultimatelyreduce the effectiveness andefficiency of the agency.

Referring to 397 vacanciesof High Court Judges account-ing for 37% of the sanctioned1079 and 5146 vacant posts ofjudicial officers in the subor-dinate courts accounting for21% of the total 24,018, theCommittee called for avoidingdelays in finalisation of namesrecommended by the col-legium at all stages.

The Committee alsoexpressed serious concern overthe huge vacancies in the high-er and lower Courts leading todelay in justice delivery.Referring to 'India JusticeReport, 2019' the Committeenoted that judicial delays cost0.50 percent of the GDP of thecountry.

The Committee noted withconcern the increase in the pendency of cases by 8%,29% and 21% in the SupremeCourt, High Courts and sub-ordinate Courts respectivelysince 2018.

Detailed recommendationsin this regard were contained inthe two Reports of the

Department Related StandingCommittee on Personnel,Public Grievances, Law &Justice on Demands for Grantsfor 2020-21 that were present-ed to Rajya Sabha on Friday.The Committee with 28 mem-bers from Rajya Sabha and LokSabha is headed by BhupenderYadav of Rajya Sabha.

The Committee has rec-ommended grouping of min-istries into clusters like RuralCluster, Social Cluster,Financial Cluster etc. andassigning civil servants cluster-wise based on their knowledge,competence, interests and incli-nation to enable them acquireskills, expertise and profes-sional excellence in a particu-lar domain.

Referring to the advantageof 360 degree performanceappraisal of civil servantsbased on the assessment by anexpert committee and feed-back from various stakehold-ers and juniors, theCommittee, however, cau-tioned that such feedbackshould not harm the honestand deserving civil servantswho enforce discipline and

performance.Noting that globalisation

has brought about radicaltransformation in governanceand public administrationrequiring the civil servants todeliver under trying circum-stances and with inadequateresources, the Committee hascalled for reorienting the train-ing curriculum to make civilservants 'Emotionally

Intelligent'. The Committee also noted

that 48,000 cases are still pend-ing disposal in CentralAdministrative Tribunal due tothe twin problems of humanresource and infrastructuredeficit and recommended insti-tutionalising a pre-litigationconciliation mechanism toresolve the grievances ofGovernment servants.

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President Ram Nath Kovindon the occasion of the

International Women's Day onSunday presented 'Nari ShaktiPuraskar' here to 15 womenachievers from various fields.The winners for the year 2019are from fields as diverse asagriculture, sports,handicrafts, afforesta-tion and wildlifec o n s e r v a t i o n ,armed forces andeducation.

Bina Devi,fondly known as'Mushroom Mahila' forpopularizing mushroomcultivation, was one of theawardees. Devi, 43, is a mush-room grower and was'sarpanch' of Dhauri Panchayat,Tetiabamber block for fiveyears. She has trained farmerson mushroom farming, organ-ic farming, vermin-compostproduction, organic insecti-

cide preparation at home.Another awardee was 103-year-old Mann Kaur. Known as' M i r a c l efrom Chandigarh', Kaur start-ed her athletic career at the ageof 93.

The award was also con-ferred on Kalavati Devi, a 58-

year-old lady mason, whoacted as a driving force

towards reducingopen defecation inthe district ofKanpur.

She is respon-sible for building

over 4,000 toilets invillages in and aroundKanpur and has gonedoor to door to create

awareness about the ills ofopen defecation. Padala Bhudevi, 40, has

been working for the develop-ment of tribal women, widows,Podu lands through a com-munity based organization-CAVS (Chinnai Adhivasi Vikas

Society), established by herfather, in 1996.

Arifa Jan, 33, was awarded

for reviving the lost art ofNumdha handicrafts and hastrained more than 100 women

in Kashmir. Chami Murmu, 47,has been awarded for her workas a passionate

environmentalist. Fondlyknown as the 'Lady Tarzan' ofJharkhand, Murmu has been

involved in planting of morethan 25 lakh trees with theForest Department and mobi-lizing more than 3,000 women.

Nilza Wangmo, 40 is anentrepreneur, running AlchiKitchen Restaurant, the firstone to serve traditionalLadakhi cuisines includingsome exquisite and forgottenrecipes.

Another awardee isRashmi Urdhwardeshe, 60,who is automotive and R&Dprofessional since 36 years.Tashi and Nungshi Malik, 28,from Uttrakhand were the firstfemale twins to scale Mt Everestin 2013.

Kaushiki Chakroborty, 38,is an Indian classical vocalistwith more than 15 years ofexperience, and she is Khayaland Thumri exponent. Avani Chaturvedi, 26,Bhawanna Kanth, 27 andMohana Singh Jitarwal

28, were the Indian AirForce's first women fighter

pilots. The trio was inducedinto IAF fighter squadron afterthe government decided toopen the stream for women onexperimental basis. Theybecame the first Indian womenpilots to take a solo flight in aMIG- 21 in 2018.

Bhageerathi Amma, 105,and Karthyayini Amma, 98,have passed the Class IV liter-acy equivalent examinations.At 105 years, BhageerathiAmma is the oldest literacyequivalent learner under KeralaState Literacy Mission. Shehad to quit education to takecare of her siblings when shewas younger.

The function was attendedby Union Ministers NirmalaSitharaman, Smriti Irani andDebasree Chaudhuri. The gov-ernment confers the NariShakti Puraskar every year torecognise the relentless serviceof women towards the cause ofwomen empowerment andsocial welfare.

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Rajya Sabha sat for just belowthree hours in the first

week of the second half of thebudget session, according toofficials. The Upper Housefailed to transact any substan-tial business due to Oppositiondemands for a discussion onthe communal violence innortheast Delhi last month.

Besides, almost 50 per centMembers of Parliament did notattend Parliamentary StandingCommittee meetings on theDemands for Grants with overtwo dozen of them not attend-ing a single meeting.

According to sources, 57per cent of TMC MPs, 36 pc ofBJP MPs, 15 pc from Congressand 50 pc from other partiesdid not attend any meeting ofthe eight committees of RajyaSabha on Demands for Grants.These meetings were heldbetween February 12 and

March 1, the recess of the two-phase Budget Session ofParliament.

Sources said Rajya Sabhalost around 26 hours of thescheduled 28:30 hours due todisruptions, as it witnesseduproarious scenes by protest-ing Opposition membersdemanding a debate on theviolence. The second part ofthe current budget sessionresumed last Monday after athree-week recess for consid-eration of demands for grantsfor 2020-21 of variousMinistries by the department-related standing committees(DRSCs).

During the first week, theRajya Sabha could sit only for2 hours and 42 minutes asagainst the total scheduledtime of 28 hours and 30 min-utes.

The House lost 25 hoursand 48 minutes due to disrup-tions and forced adjournments,

leading to productivity of only9.50 per cent, officials said.

During the meetingDemand and Grants panelmeet of leaders ahead of thestart of the Budget session lastmonth, Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu desired the DRSCs tosubmit reports on demands forgrants well ahead of consider-ation and passing of the bud-get for 2020-21.

Naidu informed the UpperHouse that a total of 95 MPs,accounting for 39 pc of the total243 MPs from both the Houseson the eight committees thatare with Rajya Sabha, had zeroattendance.

He appealed to all con-cerned to improve their atten-dance. BJP has 109 MPs onthese eight committees whileCongress has 33, TMC has 14,SP four, AIADMK threebesides 80 from other partiesand independents, Rajya Sabhasources said.

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AParliamentary StandingCommittee Science and

Technology, Environment,Forests and Climate Changehas said the Indo-US nucleardeal has not yet resulted in any“new” power projects with for-eign assistance and that theDepartment of Atomic Energy(DAE) should, for now, adopthome-grown 700 MW heavywater reactors for its expansionprogramme.

Signed in 2008, the Indo-US nuclear deal ended India'snuclear pariah status andenabled import of uraniumfor its power reactors. In 2008,France also signed a deal.

Under the deal signed withUS, WestingHouse Co is tobuild six reactors of 1208 MWeach. GE-Hitachi, another US

company, is also to build sixreactors at Kovvada in AndhraPradesh.

France's EDF also has tobuild six reactors of 1650 MWeach. The projects withWestingHouse Co and EDF areat the discussion stage.

“The committee is alsoaware of the fact that apart fromhelping India acquire badly

needed natural uranium fromother countries, the Indo-USnuclear agreement has not yetresulted in new commercialprojects with foreign assis-tance,” the panel which sub-mitted its report on Fridaysaid.

The Committee headed byCongress leader JairamRamesh, also observed thatnegotiations with Americanand French companies havebeen going on for a decade.

“The committee feels thatat this point of time it would bebetter for the DAE to adopt astandardised 700 MW heavy-water reactor and use thatstandardised design for itsexpansion programme in anaggressive manner,” the paneladded. India has 22 powerreactors. Of these two areBoiling Water Reactors (BWR)

at Tarapur built with Americanhelp in the 1960s, the other twoare Russian made Light WaterReactors at Kundakulam.

The rest are PressurisedHeavy Water Reactors(PHWR) developed by theDAE at a time when India wasunder sanctions post the 1974and 1998 Pokhran tests. Thegovernment in 2018 gaveapproval to build 10 newPHWRs.

The Committee expressedhope that the DAE would be ina position to commission thefast breeder reactor atKalpakkam by the end of 2021.Even though it would havetaken almost two decades whencommissioning takes place,this is a pioneering initiative ofwhich India can be justifiablyproud. It will transform ournuclear energy programme.

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Citing proposals to hike lifeand vehicular insurance

premiums and the decision tocut EPF interest rate, theCongress on Sunday accusedthe Narendra ModiGovernment of shedding “croc-odile tears” for the commonpeople while pursuing policieswhich will “break” their back.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi aidthat productivity, employmentand the rupee have fallen,while inflation, social divisionalong with the government'sarrogance have risen. “Thisgovernment has failed on allfronts,” he said.

Regulators have proposedmore than 20 per cent hike inthird-party insurance premi-

ums, Singhvi said, adding thiswill impact most two-wheelersand three-wheelers besidesfour- wheelers under 1500 cccategory. A similar hike hasalso been proposed by regula-tors for life insurance premi-ums, he added.

The Government hasenough powers to stop thesedecisions which, the Congressleader said, will adversely affectthe middle and lower-class theworst.

“Decisions taken by thisGovernment or rather allowedto be taken by this Governmentwithout interference, restraintand injunction despite havingthe power to control and stopis directly impacting three Ps ofthe common man: purchasingpower, planning for future andpreparation,” he said.

The Government hasallowed regulators to take thesedecision while shedding croc-odile tears, Singhvi said, addingthis indicates a “sinister plan”to break the back of the com-mon man. Food inflation hasbeen steadily rising and thegovernment recently hikedLPG cylinder price by Rs 144that will help it pocket over Rs44,000 crores, he claimed.

It may be noted that theincrease in LPG price is notapplicable to subsidised quota.A household is entitled to 12subsidised gas cylinders.

The EPF interest rate wasrecently reduced to 8.5 per centfrom 8.65 per cent. TheCongress demanded that thegovernment interferes imme-diately to reverse these mea-sures.

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India's longest serv-ing Law Minister

Hans Raj Bhardwaj(82) passed away hereon Sunday evening.The veteran Congressleader Bhardwaj wasclosely associated withformer PrimeMinisters IndiraGandhi and RajivGandhi was their eyesand years in the legalfield. After leavingLaw Ministry in 2009, he wasappointed as Governor ofKarnataka till 2014.

He was Indira Gandhi’sadvocate when she facedcharges after Emergency.Leaving Governorship in 2014,Bhardwaj left active politics andwas engaged as advising in legal

issues. He was also Minister for

Planning, Company Affairsand was the Congress party'strouble shooter in many con-troversial issues. Cremationwill take place on Monday4pm at Nigam Bodh Ghat,Delhi, said family members.

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In a move that will go a longway in better menstrual

hygiene management in thecountry, the Centre has decid-ed to make it mandatory uponthe sanitary napkins manufac-turing firms to provide bio-degradable disposal bags toofrom January next year.

Union Minister PrakashJavadekar on Sunday said at anevent at Pune on the occasionof International Women's Dayon Sunday said, “I haveobserved that despite repeatedappeal to sanitary pad manu-facturers, they are still not pro-viding bio-degradable dispos-al bags. From January, 2021, theUnion government will makesuch bags mandatory.”

The move follows con-cerns that while manufacturersof sanitary napkins take noresponsibility for their productor its appropriate disposal,sanitary waste is disposed with

household waste, and pickersoften handle it with bare hands,to the detriment of their healthand well-being. Disposablebags will help better sorting outthe soiled pads from the wasteand their better disposal.

Thrown in open, landfillsites and drains, many times,animals like cows and dogs tooeat them up, almost killingthemselves as the plastic in thepads chokes their stomachwhile drainage system getsblocked. Welcoming theGovernment's move to ensurethat sanitary pad makers pro-vide disposable bags too,

Jagdish Kaur, President of thenot-for-profit NGO, WILGA(Women's Initiative forLiberation, Growth and Action) asserted that “focus should bealso on manufacture of the eco-friendly and reusable pads tosave the environment.”

She felt that a plastic andindustrially manufactured san-itary pad requires about 500 to800 years to decompose, thusposing environment hazards.“These are usually dumped inlandfills, thrown in open spacesand ponds or drains thus chok-ing the drainage system.Instead, focus should be on

manufacturing reusable padswhose total costs are quite lowas compared to the cost of syn-thetic disposable pads used ina year,” she said.

Sanfe, IIT Delhi-incubatedstartup has already initiated inthis direction. It has forayedinto the sanitary napkins seg-ment with the launch ofreusable sanitary pads, madewith composite banana fiber,which can last upto two years(around 120 washes). SanfeReusable Pad is developed byArchit Agarwaland HarrySehrawat, based on inputs fromseveral IIT Delhi professors.

“The reusable pads areultra-thin and are highlyabsorbent with Quadrant TrueLock Technology which makesthe pad leakproof and avoidscreating any rashes. A patenthas also been filed for thedesign. A pack of two pads ispriced at Rs. 199,” according tothe representatives from theStartup.

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Itanagar: The ArunachalPradesh Government hasdecided to temporarily suspendissuing Protected Area Permits(PAPs) to foreigners to checkthe spread of coronavirus, offi-cials said on Sunday.

Foreigners require PAPsto enter the State that shares aborder with China.

Chief Secretary NareshKumar directed all PAP issuingauthorities to suspend the issueof permits till further orders,they said.

“It is learnt that Covid-19positive cases have been detect-ed in India and the numbershave been increasing. It is alsolearnt that the spread of thecoronavirus in India is pri-marily from visitors who hadhistory of travelling abroadrecently or through touristswho have visited India,” theGovernment order said.

“In order to prevent thespread of coronavirus (Covid-19) in Arunachal Pradesh, ithas been decided to temporar-ily suspend issuing Protected

Area Permit (PAP)...,” itadded.

The move comes days afterSikkim announced similarcurbs on visit of foreigners. TheHimalayan kingdom of Bhutanhas also shut its borders to for-eign visitors for two weeks inan effort to limit the impact ofthe disease. The virus that firstemerged in China in Decemberlast year has spread to 97 coun-tries and has infected 102,180people, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirustracker. PTI

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Pune: Armed with special pro-tective gear — including safe-ty gowns, spectacles, N-95masks and gloves — scientistsat the National Institute ofVirology (NIV) here are work-ing “round-the-clock” to ensuresmooth testing of samples forthe deadly coronavirus, whilehand-holding associate cen-tres spread across the country.

The day at NIV— thecountry's premier virus testingcentre —starts with the scien-tists going into a huddle tochalk out the strategy, whichincludes testing fresh cases forCOVID-19, reconfirming onesthat have already tested posi-tive, and providing supportand guidance to other labs, asenior scientist at the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) said.

“In the last one month, wehave tested around 4,000 sam-ples across the country. Everyday, on an average, 25 samplesare being tested at NIV,” RamanR Gangakhedkar, head of theEpidemiology andCommunicable

Diseases-I (ECD-I),Division of ICMR told PTI.

In the wake of 39 con-

firmed cases of COVID-19 inIndia so far, the Union HealthMinistry has made 52 labora-tories functional for testingsamples while 57 labs havebeen designated for helping insample collection to enhancethe capacity for diagnosis anddetection of the virus.

As of March 6, a total of4,058 samples from 3,404 indi-viduals have been tested by thenetwork, officials said.

Gangakhedkar explainedthat if 10 samples, for example,are received in a day at NIV,five of these come in the morn-ing, three by evening and twoaround night.

He noted that the workloadat NIV may not be very high,however, the researchers haveto work round-the-clock to

ensure the smooth operationsfor coronavirus testing.

Gangakhedkar said, so far,the samples are mostly broughtto NIV for reconfirmation forthe virus which has alreadykilled nearly 3,500 people andinfected more than 100,000across 92 countries and terri-tories.

“There are special assign-ments also. Suppose a group ofpassengers or patients arebrought from Wuhan or Japan,NIV plays a big role in theirsample testing as their reportsneed to be sent back to theirrespective countries,” he said.

He noted that NIV, being apivotal institute, is hand-hold-ing associate labs in the coun-try by providing all the support

and guidance.“Every day there is a video

conferencing with the associatetesting lab centres where theissues are discussed and solu-tions for the problems arefound,” he said.

He added that all the positive samples tested at othercentres need to be sent to NIVfor reconfirmation.

“As part of the qualityassurance and quality control,five per cent negative samplesare being sent to NIV forretesting. The objective is toverify any difference in theresults,” Gangakhedhar said.

“Suppose they have sent atest result which is negative (forthe virus), and it tests positivehere at NIV, then it is checkedwhat went wrong in the otherlab's procedure,” he added.

The scientist, however, saidso far there was no suchinstance of a mismatch in theresults. He also noted that theresearchers entrusted to test thesamples — which may poten-tially contain the virus — areequipped with special protec-tive equipment to ensure per-sonal safety while testing. PTI

Itanagar: A man was bookedin Arunachal Pradesh's EastSiang District for posting mis-leading information on socialmedia regarding coronavirus,officials said on Sunday.

A case was lodged againstSubu Kena Tsering based on acomplaint filed by district med-ical officer Kaling Dai onFriday at Pasighat police sta-tion, they said.

Tsering posted in aFacebook group that coron-avirus has reached Pasighatand two patients have beenreferred to Dibrugarh inAssam, officials said.

He is yet to be arrested,they said. The virus that firstemerged in China in Decemberlast year has spread to 97 coun-tries and has infected 102,180people, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirus tracker.More than 3,500 people havebeen killed due to the virus sofar. PTI

Mumbai: NCP chief SharadPawar on Sunday urgedExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar to see that theIndians stranded in Iran in thewake of the coronavirus out-break there get medical helpand general assistance.

Iran is among the countriesgrappling with the outbreak ofcoronavirus, which has claimed194 lives in that country.

“In the wake of the alarm-ing Covid-19 issue, I voiced myconcerns to Dr. S. Jaishankar ji,Union Minister of ExternalAffairs regarding more than 40Indian citizens stranded atQom city in Iran. They are dis-tressed and in urgent need ofmedical help and general assistance,” Pawartweeted.

Iran's Health Ministry onSunday reported 49 new deathsfrom the novel coronavirus, thehighest toll within 24 hourssince the start of the outbreakin the Islamic republic.

The new count brings thenumber of those killed by thevirus in that country sincemid-February to 194, one ofthe highest tolls outside ofChina, where the disease orig-inated.

The virus has spread to allof Iran's 31 provinces with6,566 confirmed cases.Iran has closed schools anduniversities until early April, aswell as suspended major cul-tural and sporting events andreduced working hours acrossthe country to slow the conta-gion. PTI

Aizawl: The Mizoram PradeshCongress Committee (MPCC) onSunday asked the State Government toseal the Indo-Myanmar border to pre-vent the spread of coronavirus.

Mizoram shares a 510 km inter-national border with Myanmar.

A statement issued by the mediacell of the Congress said that theIndo-Myanmar border in Champhaidistrict should be immediately sealedto prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The statement alleged that manycommuters and traders from Chinaand other southeast ASEAN countriesenter Mizoram through Myanmarwithout undergoing screening, whichcan be a big danger for the state in viewof the coronavirus outbreak.

While lauding the StateGovernment for sealing the Indo-Myanmar border in south Mizoram's

Siaha district, the Congress said themain Indo-Myanmar border inChamphai and other districts shouldalso be sealed immediately.

The Congress also expressed con-cern about the absence of laboratoryand coronavirus detecting machine inthe State.

“We ask the State Government toimmediately install machine and lab-oratory for sample testing and earlydetection of suspected coronaviruspatients,” the statement issued byCongress media cell secretary CLalhriatpuia said.

Meanwhile, state health depart-ment officials said that the state gov-ernment is making massive efforts to

prevent the spread of novel coronavirusin the state.

Till date no suspected case ofcoronavirus has been detected in thestate, they said.

The government has set up morethan seven screening counters along thenational and international borders,including Lengpui airport.

So far more than 14,600 peoplehave been screened and at least 41 peo-ple are being put under home isolationto prevent the spread of the deadly dis-ease, officials said.

The Government has also set up 32bedded isolation ward at states premiermedical college- Zoram MedicalCollege (ZMC) and 5 bedded ward ineach district hospitals to treat any sus-pected patients. Besides, the StateGovernment has also set up laborato-ry sample collection centres at AizawlCivil hospital, ZMC and Lengpui com-munity health centre. PTI

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Acruise ship with a PanamaFlag has been turned back

at the New Mangalore Porthere following the Centre'sadvisory in the wake of thecoronavirus outbreak, officialssaid.

The vessel 'MSC Lirica'was sent back on Saturday asthe Union Ministry of Shippinghad directed all ports not to

allow any cruise ship fromforeign destinations to call onIndian ports.

No further details aboutthe ship were disclosed. NewMangaluru Port Trust chair-man AV Ramana said theMinistry has directed all portsto deny entry to cruise ships tillMarch 31 in the wake of thecoronvirus scare.

Around 25 vessels wereexpected to call on the porthere during the cruise season.

Meanwhile, the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) conducted an aware-ness programme on preventionof coronavirus COVID-19 atMangaluru InternationalAirport.

The stakeholders were sen-sitised on handling passengersaffected with covid-19 andprecautions to be taken fordealing with affected passen-gers.

Thiruvananthapuram: Takinga serious view of three freshcoronavirus patients not dis-closing their Italy visit, theKerala Government on Sundaywarned of strict action, includ-ing prosecution, against thosehiding such travel to affectedcountries and symptoms ofthe infection.

The Health departmentsaid failure to inform authori-ties about travel history andsymptoms would be considereda crime, while the State policeseparately said it was “illegaland punishable” if anyone hidsuch information.

The warnings came on aday when Kerala reported fivefresh cases of cornovirus,including three who had recenttravel history to Italy butevaded health screening at theairport on their return about aweek ago.

The Health departmentdirected that those who comefrom coronavirus-affected

nations should inform it at theearliest.

“Otherwise, it will be con-sidered as a crime. Those whocome from abroad should bein-house surveillance for 28days,” a release from the healthdepartment said.

The police said the symp-tomatic persons should informthe authorities concerned.

“It is illegal and punish-able” if anyone hid their travelhistory to the coronavirus-affected countries and did notreveal the symptoms of the

virus, if any, a police releasesaid here.

“Strict action, includingprosecution, will be initiatedagainst them. Directives ofvarious government agenciesshould be followed in thisregard,” it added.

Kerala was put on highalert after the five fresh caseswhich came days after thesouthern state had successful-ly treated the country's firstthree coronavirus patients -medical students from Wuhanin China. PTI

Mumbai: Maharashtra DeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawar onSunday said he has been greet-ing people with the tradition-al 'namaste' instead of shakinghands as a precaution in thewake of the novel coronavirusoutbreak.

There are 39 confirmedcases of Covid-19 in India,though none in Maharashtra asyet.

“I like cleanliness. I don'tlike dirt. You may have seentoday that I greet with anamaste if someone comes toshake hands. One may think Iam not shaking hands now thatI have become deputy chiefminister. But it is not so,”Pawar said.

He said precaution needsto be taken in view of the coro-navirus outbreak and asked allto avoid shaking hands till thecrisis passes. PTI

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The condition of a coron-avirus-hit Italian couple

admitted here at SMS Hospitalfor treatment is improving, asenior official said on Sunday.

“The Italian man has nofever now and his condition isconstantly improving. Hisblood count has become nor-mal with decreased pneumoniasymptoms, requiring much lessoxygen (support),” AdditionalChief Secretary (Medical andHealth) Rohit Kumar Singhsaid on Sunday.

Singh said considering theimprovement in conditions ofthe Italian man, he is likely tobe fully recovered and dis-charged from the hospital in next seven to tendays.

“His wife, who too wasfound corona-positive, is muchbetter now,” he said.

Kushinagar (UP): UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Sunday askedpeople to not be afraid of thenew coronavirus as theGovernment has made ade-quate arrangements to containits spread and urged them totake precautions “because pre-vention is better than cure”.

The virus has infected 39people across the country,including 16 Italians visitingIndia. The Government hasstepped up efforts to screenpeople at entry points into thecountry and set up facilities toquarantine suspected and con-firmed cases.

Worldwide, the number ofcoronavirus cases stood at over1,05,800, including 3,595deaths. “There is panic in theworld over coronavirus butthere is no need to be afraid ofit. Just take precautions becauseprevention is better than cure,”Adityanath said at a public

meeting during the'Mukhyamantri Arogya Mela' atprimary health centre inKushinagar district.

“Our Government has setup an isolation ward in everydistrict for suspected patients.There is complete arrangementfor their treatment,” he added.

The chief minister con-gratulated people onInternational Women's Dayand felicitated 10 women fordoing excellent work in differ-ent fields.m He said a societyplagued by discrimination onthe basis of caste, creed, religionor gender cannot progress.Adityanath said collectiveefforts can become the basis ofempowerment.

The 'Mukhyamantri ArogyaMela' is being organised at allprimary health centres of thestate since February 2. EverySunday, a team of doctors givesfree consultation to patients atthe health centres. PTI

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Panaji: The coronavirus scarein several countries across theworld has started affectingtourism in Goa, with crowds atits famed beaches thinningand hotels reporting cancella-tions, industry stakeholderssaid on Sunday.

Currently, two people havebeen quarantined in the Statefor suspected exposure to novelcoronavirus and their sampleshave been sent for testing.

“I was expecting Russiantourists by a charter flight. ButI have received communicationfrom them that they have can-celled the trip,” a hotelier fromCalangute said.

“Even domestic touristshave cancelled their holidays.Beaches are deserted. Tourismwas down by almost 50 percent as it is and the coronavirussituation has hit it further,” saidManual Cardoso, General

Secretary, All GoaTraditional Shack Owners'Association.

He said the Governmentadvisory asking people to avoidcrowded places has also playeda role as many tourists are notleaving their hotel rooms infear.

Meanwhile, Goa Airporthas increased the number ofpeople being screened to curbthe spread of the virus. In atweet, airport authorities said,“For expedite screening of

international pax, countersincreased to three from two,with separate lanes for differ-ent flights. 3 doctors and 3paramedics in night and samenumber in day onSaturday/Sunday put in placewith the help of Goagovt.”

The State Government hasset up isolation wards in theGoa Medical College andHospital, Sankhalim Hospitaland the TB Hospital in Margao. PTI

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Mumbai: The samples of 258 peopleadmitted in hospitals for suspectedexposure to novel coronavirus inMaharashtra have returned negative andthey have been discharged, State HealthMinister Rajesh Tope said on Sunday.

The Minister said 15 people are stillunder observation in Mumbai and Pune.Maharashtra has not reported any pos-itive case of coronavirus so far, Tope said.

Of the people still under observation,13 are admitted in Mumbai and two inPune, the Minister informed.

A State Government statement said1,09,118 passengers from 904 flights havebeen screened at Mumbai and Pune air-ports since January 18.

Till now, 560 persons have returnedto the state from the coronavirus-affect-ed regions, the statement said. PTI

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The Trinamool Congress hasnominated four former

party MPs for the upcomingRajya Sabha elections. ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSunday announced on theTwitter that out of the four can-didates two will be women.

She wrote “I am glad toannounce that AITC will benominating Arpita Ghosh,Mausam Noor, Dinesh Trivediand Subrata Bakshi to theRajya Sabha. As a part of myconstant endeavour towardswoman empowerment, I amproud that half of our nomi-nations are women,” remindingthat the party’s decision tonominate the women candi-dates came on InternationalWomen's Day.

The four candidates nom-inated for the March 26 elec-tions are former Railway

Minister Dinesh Trivedi, for-mer South Kolkata Lok SabhaMember and TMC Bengalpresident Subrato Bakshi, the-atre personality Arpita Ghoshwho was an MP between 2014and 2019 before losing to theBJP from Balurghat seat andformer North Malda MPMausam Benazir Noor whohad crossed over to the TMCbefore the last year’s Lok Sabhaelections only to lose the seatto BJP’s Khagen Murmu.

Bengal will send five MPsto Rajya Sabha this time roundout of which four of the TMCare almost certain to win thepolls considering the party’sstrength in the BengalAssembly. However the fifthseat that is going to be vacatedby expelled CPI(M) MPRitabrata Banerjee is likely toget a joint Left-Congress can-didate.

Though the Left has 28seats and the Congress has 42

seats in the State Assembly theformer is likely to stake itsclaim on the ground that it hadearlier left another seat to thelatter.

Whether TMC would fielda candidate in the fifth seat willbe decided later, party sourcessaid.

The Rajya Sabha seats fromBengal are falling vacant onApril 2 following the end of thetenures of Trinamool MPs KDSingh a businessman, formerminister-turned-bureaucratManish Gupta, painter JogenChowdhury, and media per-

sonality Ahmed Hassan Imran.Taking a dig at the Chief

Minister for fielding four for-mer MPs who had lost the LokSabha elections (save Bakshi)Bengal BJP president DilipGhosh on Sunday said “it is ashame that the TMC is tryingto project all the candidateswho were rejected by the peo-ple in the general elections.”

The Chief Minister’s bid to“send the rejected leaders toParliament through ‘back door’will not be taken well by thepeople of Bengal who will givea befitting reply” to the ruling

outfit in the next year’sAssembly elections, Ghoshsaid.

Meanwhile in an unrelateddevelopment the TMCrenewed its campaign againstthe Citizenship AmendmentAct and National Register forCitizens taking out a hugewomen’s rally in central Kolkataon Sunday.

The rally was partaken bya number of senior TMCwomen leaders including min-isters Chandrima Bhattacharya,Shahsi Panja who carried han-dis (metal pots) used for cook-ing rice even as they raised slo-gans saying the country did notwant CAA but “we want bhaat(bread and butter).”

Bhattacharya said “this is astatement for the centralGovernment which has failedto provide people with theirbasic needs and now is tryingto divide them along religiouslines to stick to power.”

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Former Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) leader Syed

Altaf Bukhari, supported bysenior colleagues who too haddeserted PDP on Sundaylaunched his own political out-fit, Jammu & Kashmir Apniparty (JKAP) in Srinagar.

Apparently propped up bythe Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)ruled Union Government,majority of founding membersof the regional party withnational outlook turned out tobe members of the council ofMinisters of former ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti.

Over half a dozen Congressleaders from Jammu regionand retired bureaucrats, whoremained close aides of NC topbrass also embarked onBukhari's bandwagon.

Making a formalannouncement in the compa-ny of founding members of hisparty, who had assembled at hisBukhari Shiekhbagh mansion,Syed Altaf Bukhari toldreporters, "this party will be adifferent party. A party notfloated by a family". “Thisparty is by the commoners, forthe commoners, of the com-moners,” Bukhari said. He saidthey will be choosy in admit-ting people into the party andthat a president once electedwill never be permitted beyondtwo times.

After reading from a draftstatement, Bukhari interacted

briefly with media persons andsoon winded up the sessionsaying that there will be manyoccasions to interact in future.He along with senior partyleaders also unveiled the partyflag on the occasion.

Earlier, Bukhari toldreporters that he had beenwaiting for the last sevenmonths hoping that NationalConference and the PDP wouldcome out and raise the issuesconfronted by the people.

“Unfortunately, they havenot come out. Political partiesdon’t cease to exist once theirleaders are arrested. Now, mostof their leaders have beenreleased, if not the presidents ofthe parties. We believed theywould talk about issues, butthey chose silence. We thoughtit necessary to flag issues,”Bukhari said.

He explained, the presentcircumstances warranted for-mation of a new political partycomprising of those who allalong had identified and relat-ed themselves to the socialneeds of multiple strata andfactions of our society. A partythat can respond to rationalaspirations of people withoutpromising them moon or stars.We are not here to sell dreamsor fantasy to our people andinstead shall always be prag-matic, honest and fair in ourapproach", he added.

Referring to the con-tentious issue of Abrogation ofArticle 370, Bukhari said, "we

have, but to wait for the verdictof Supreme Court in any case".

However, restoration ofstatehood, domicile rights onland and jobs, beside a holisticand an equitable developmentof all the regions and subregions of Jammu & Kashmirforms our core agenda.

In January, Bukhari-leddelegation presented a memo-randum to the LieutenantGovernor Girish ChandraMurmu listing measures for therevival of political activities inJammu and Kashmir.

The launch party wasattended by a number of for-mer lawmakers and leaders.These included former PDPlawmakers and politiciansGhulam Hasan Mir,Mohammad Ashraf Mir, JavedAhmad Beg, Raja Manzoor,Zafar Iqbal Manhas, AbdulMajid Padder, Rafi AhmadMir, Choudhary Zulfiqar,Mohammad Dilawar Mir, NoorMohammad Wani and AbdulRaheem Rather.

Former Congress leadersUsman Majid, Shoaib Lone,Aijaz Khan and his brotherMumtaz Khan, FarooqAndrabi, Irafn Naqeeb, KrishanArora, Vikram Malhotra andManjit Singh also attended thefunction.

Syed Asgar Ali who hadrecently migrated from PDP toNC was also present alongwith former Chief SecretaryVijay Bakaya who had resignedfrom NC.

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Night curfew which was in force inMeghalaya capital Shillong for more than

a week has been withdrawn following improve-ment in the law and order situation, officials saidon Sunday.

Night curfew was imposed in Shillong andnearby areas after violence erupted in East KhasiHills district on February 28 following the deathof a Khasi Students Union (KSU) member dur-ing an anti-CAA rally at Ichamati that alsodemanded the implementation of the Inner LinePermit (ILP).

"Night curfew has been totally lifted in thewhole of Shillong and its adjoining areas witheffect from Sunday," Assistant Inspector Generalof Police (AIGP) Gabriel Iangrai said in a state-ment here. Not a single incident of violence hasbeen reported from anywhere in the state andthe situation has become normal, the AIGP said.

However, night curfew imposed in Shella,Sohra and Ichamati under Sohra sub-divisionwill remain in force, he said.

At least two persons have died in separateincidents at Iew Duh market in Shillong andShella when unidentified miscreants attackedthem following the death of a KSU memberLurshari Hynniewta on February 28 during ananti-CAA rally at Ichamati.

Eight persons were arrested in the case andmobile internet was shut for seven days in sixKhasi and Jaintia Hills district since the nightof February 28.

Allahabad: The Allahabad HighCourt on Sunday termed as "highlyunjust" the putting up of roadsidebanners with photographs and infor-mation of people asked to pay com-pensation for damage to propertyduring anti-CAA protests, and hopedthat they will be removed, but theUttar Pradesh Government assertedthat it was a "deterrent" action andthe court should not interfere in sucha matter.

The court, which had on March7 taken suo motu cognizance of theissue and asked the district magis-trate and divisional commissioner ofLucknow to inform it about the lawunder which such posters/hoardingswere put on the streets of the statecapital, on Sunday reserved its ordertill March 9.

Taking up the matter on Sunday,a bench comprising Chief JusticeGovind Mathur and Justice RameshSinha termed the action of UttarPradesh authorities as "highly unjust"and said it was an absolute encroach-ment on personal liberty of individ-uals.

It later adjourned the matter till3 pm as Additional Advocate GeneralNeeraj Tripathi informed the court

that the Advocate General wouldrepresent the State Government.

As the bench rose, it expressedthe hope that "good sense would pre-vail" on the State and it wouldremove the hoardings before 3 pmand apprise the court about this atthat time.

When the hearing resumed,Advocate General RaghvendraPratap Singh contended that thecourt should not interfere in suchmatter as a public interest litigation,as those involved have damagedpublic and private property.

The Advocate General termedthe act of the state government inputting up the posters of allegedCAA protestors as a 'deterrent' sothat such incidents of violence are notrepeated in future.

The court then reserved its ordertill 2 pm on March 9, 2020.

The state police has put up sev-eral hoardings across Lucknow iden-tifying those accused of violence dur-ing the protests against theCitizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019in December last year.

The names, photographs andresidential addresses of the accused

are listed in the hoardings and theyhave been asked to pay for the dam-age to public and private propertywithin a stipulated time or have theirproperties seized by the districtadministration.

Many of these people said theyfear for their safety. Activist-politi-cian Sadaf Jafar had termed the moveas unethical and vowed to take legalrecourse.

"How can we be publicly humil-iated for something that has not yetbeen proved in court,” she said.

“This is not Afghanistan. Legalissues cannot be brought into pub-lic like this. Our bail order says thereis no adequate evidence against us,”Jafar told PTI.

She was arrested after the vio-lence in Lucknow and later grantedbail. "We are not absconding,” shesaid, adding that they have appearedbefore the court and police wheneverasked.

Former IPS officer, S R Darapuriclaimed that the move is illegal."Our life, property and freedomhave been put in jeopardy by puttingup these posters and our reputationhas been damaged," he had said. PTI

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Srinagar: PDP presidentMehbooba Mufti'sdaughter, Iltija Mufti, onSunday asked the Centreto spare the "tokenism ofwomen hashtag theatrics"as it was women who theGovernment was scaredof the most.

Iltija, who uses hermother's verified Twitterhandle to comment ondevelopments and events,said the Government"illegally" jailed the firstwoman Chief Ministerof Jammu &

Kashmir."Spare us tokenism

of women hashtag the-atrics. GOI (Governmentof India) illegally jailedthe first woman CM ofJ&K, encourages rape &death threats againstbrave female journos & ispetrified of daadis atShaheen Bagh. For alltheir talk of Nari Shakti,it is truly women they fearthe most," she tweeted.

The comments comeas Prime Minister

Narendra Modiannounced that he wouldhand over all his socialmedia accounts towomen as part ofInternational Women'sDay.

Iltija has been tweet-ing from MehboobaMufti's Twitter handleafter the PDP presidentand former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Ministerwas taken into custody onAugust 5 last year fol-lowing abrogation ofArticle 370. PTI

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Eight-year-old climate activistLicypriya Kangujam, who turned

down Prime Minister Narendra Modi'shonour of joining the #SheInspiresUscampaign, said that she rejected theoffer because nobody paid heed to anyof her demands over the years.

Speaking to PTI, Kangujam saidthat initially she was both happy andsad to learn about the honour, buteventually decided to turn it downsince politicians never take the issue ofclimate change seriously.

"Over the years they haven't lis-tened to any of my demands despiteprotesting continuously in front of theParliament and many other placesacross the country with thousands ofchildren and youths," shelamented.

She recalled, in June last year,seven MPs of the Rajya Sabha after herprotest in front of the ParliamentHouse, moved a Calling AttentionMotion on the issue, but the ministerof Environment and Climate ChangePrakash Javadekar said that Indiawould not bow down to internationalpressure on climate change.

The minister's response was not upto her expectations, she said. Kangujamis known as Indian 'Greta', after beingcompared to award-winning Swedishteenage environment activist GretaThunberg, for her passion towards thefight against climate change.

Ever since her foray into climateactivism, Kangujam, who was con-ferred the Rising Star by theWashington DC-based Earth DayNetwork last year, made her demandsclear -- that the government shouldenact a climate law to regulate carbonemissions and other greenhouse gases.

Such a law will bring in trans-parency, she said. She alsodemanded that climate change shouldbe made a compulsory subject inschools because she believesthat it will help in the fightagainst climate changefrom the grassroots level.

"It will also help ineducating our leaders asthey would learn aboutthe issue from their chil-dren and grandchildren,"she said, adding that the lead-ers just cannot believe that sci-ence and climate change is real.

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Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh

on Sunday urged people tomake suggestions for a law theState Government plans tobring to stop atrocities againstwomen.

In his message markingInternational Women's Dayon Sunday, Deshmukh askedpeople to give their suggestionsin the comment section of hisTwitter post.

"The Maharashtra gov-ernment will soon bring a lawto stop incidents of atrocitiesagainst women from happen-

ing. The law aims to ensurespeediest action against theperpetrators," the Ministersaid in a video shared on

Twitter."If you want to make sug-

gestions about the law, Irequest you to do so in mycomment box," he said.Later, Deshmukh attended awomen's safety rally held atMarine Drive here, withwomen personnel fromMumbai police also takingpart.

Deshmukh reiterated thegovernment's resolve to bringthe law to stop crimes againstwomen as soon as possible.

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Women workforce in thecountry fell to 18 per

cent in 2019 from 37 per centin 2006, non— governmentorganisation Azad Foundationsaid on the InternationalWomen's Day on Sunday.

The World EconomicForum's Global Gender GapReport this year ranks India at149th position out of 153countries on economic par-ticipation and opportunity,the organisation said andappealed to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to take creategender-sensitive infrastruc-ture.

According to theFoundation, the Global

Gender Gap Reportestimates that raisingwomen's participa-tion in the labourforce can increaseIndia's GDP signifi-

cantly."The declining

women's labour forceparticipation (from 37

per cent in 2006 to 18 per

cent in 2019), gender pay gap(23 per cent), high rates ofinformal work (93 per cent)with lack of social security areseen as impediments to thegoal of gender equality andempowerment of women inIndia," the Azad Foundationsaid in a statement here.

Azad Foundation believesthat infrastructure and normsplay a crucial role in impedingwomen's entry and sustenancein the workforce.

"We appeal to the PrimeMinister and Minister ofWomen and ChildDevelopment for their atten-tion and positive actiontowards creating gender sen-sitive infrastructure," AzadFoundation Founder andExecutive Director MeenuVadera said.

The gender-sensitiveinfrastructure included full-time creches for children,affordable and safe workingwomen's hostels, and basicpublic provisions such as pipedwater, she said in the state-ment.

The organisation also sug-gested hygienic washrooms at

public places and safe publictransport for enabling womento access decent and dignifiedlivelihood opportunities.

Meanwhile, the ITC said ithas been encouraging partic-ipation of women in its man-ufacturing facilities across thecountry.

"ITC's Pudukkottai(Trichy) unit in Tamil Nadu...Has close to 85 per centwomen workforce across allthree shifts in a day," the com-pany said in a statement.

The company's foods unitat Mysuru in Karnataka is thefirst FMCG factory in theregion to deploy women acrossall shifts and their ratio isaround 60 per cent, it added.

"To encourage the partic-ipation of women in work-force, ITC's foods businesshas been carrying out severalother initiatives at its factorylocations. As a confidencebuilding measure, familymembers of the womenemployees are invited to theplants to show them the workenvironment and culture," ITCsaid. PTI

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Annad Bhavanti Bhutani, saysLord Krishna in Bhagawad

Gita. This literally means that all creationis sustained due to food. Helping toassuage a person’s hunger will win yougood karmas in this world and the in thenext.

Hence there is nothing surprising inSneha Mohandoss, a Chennai-basedsocial worker, feeding the poor a mis-sion in her life. She had heard the adage‘Annadanam Mahadanam’ mentionedin Indian scriptures from her motherAmutha Mohandoss, who used to cookone or two extra meals daily to be givento the poor and needy.

“That’s all we could do with the lim-ited resources available at our disposal.But over the years, I took it up as a chal-lenge to alleviate poverty and hungeramong the poor whom I come across inmy daily life. I too started cooking extrameals and many friends and colleaguesjoined me in my endeavour . We openedFood Bank, a collective to offer free andnutritious food to the poor and needy,”Sneha told The Pioneer on Sunday.

What made her the cynosure onSunday was that Sneha has been featuredin the social media handle of India’sPrime Minister Narendra Modi who haddedicated the same to women onInternational Womens Day. Sneha is oneof the women who has inspired thecountry’s top political boss.

The Prime Minister’s Office hadinformed Sneha that she would be fea-

tured in the twitter handle of the PrimeMinister. While her colleagues andassociates are in cloud nine, Sneharemained unperturbed and went on withher daily routine of feeding the poor. “Itis yet another Sunday for us. We are allbusy visiting the hunger spots ear-marked by us for feeding the poor,” saidVipin, an IT specialist and associate ofSneha. The old and infirm, physicallyhandicapped persons, mentally chal-lenged ones and those who could notmove around due to ailments are alltaken care of the Food Bank which hasaccount holders ( donors as well as vol-unteers).

Hunger and poverty are universalproblems. While international agenciesbreak their head in conference roomsand seminar halls with five courselunch and cocktail dinners to find outan ever lasting solution to at least bringdown the world hunger index, here is anordinary woman going around Chennaifeeding the needy. “Yes, together we cando it provided you think about the oneswho go to bed without a nutritious meal.The look of satisfaction on the face ofthe person whom you have fed is the“punya” which we need,” said Sneha.

There are many Snehas in andaround Chennai working to resolve theissue of hunger. Vijayashree Ramesh, alawyer-cum-activist cooks Tamil Nadu’sstaple food Curd Rice every Tuesday andgoes in search of persons who could notget food for the day. Who said the worldhas become a bad place to live? Snehasand Vijayasrees are God’s blessing to thiscountry.

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Page 8: 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

Now that the embers of the Delhiriots are being washed away byan unseasonal rain, drowningthe sad memories of how we canbecome refugees in our own

land, there is talk about “heroes.” There arereports of how Hindu families shelteredMuslim neighbours in the city’s northeast-ern parts as the mob rampaged through theirhomes and hearths. There have beenumpteen reports about Hindu samaritanshelping the battered and bruised, rushingthem to hospitals, arranging aid supplies andsetting up shelters. There was also this reportof a Hindu man taking down a saffron flagfrom atop a desecrated shrine and restoringour faith in humanity. Some would say thisrepresents the syncretism of our civilisation-al ethos, the fabric of a cultural legacy thatcan never be torn asunder, the equality ofhumans as it is meant to be. Others, depend-ing on which side of the discourse they areon, would probably call it the big-hearted-ness of a triumphalist faith over another. Butin the end, it is all about characterising a gooddeed, even lionising it as one, rather than nor-malising it that is deeply troublesome. It isthis need for categorising our behavioural pat-tern that represents why “otherisation” hasdeeply penetrated us at the societal level.

So much so that the majoritarian guiltsyndrome is just as consciously executed orrecognised as the awareness of minority vic-timhood. I am glad I grew up in Kolkata,where the cheek by jowl co-existence that weneed to define so fervently these days wasalways a lived experience. During my kinder-garten years, it was the Muslim weavers at myfather’s jute factory who would drop me toschool and back, bicycles on normal days, atoptheir shoulders on rainy days. My parentsthought nothing about me playing with theirchildren in the common playgrounds in frontof their staff quarters. I cannot forgetQurbaan, who would buy me clothes fromhis meagre budget during Eid, along withthose for his children. His wife would cookan elaborate feast that he would bring overto the house and we would all partake of theflavours and joys together. He and his fami-ly were a constant in my life till the day I gotmarried. Then there was Abdul at my grand-father’s home in Lucknow, who embodied thesummer afternoons of my long and lazy vaca-tions, when I would read in the courtyard andhe would tell me stories while pounding andmincing meat on his wooden board for thefinest kebabs that I could almost swallow. Ifmy grandfather encouraged my readingthose afternoons, Abdul would regale me withanimated stories and legends of Lucknownagri, so much so that I am still teary-eyedabout this city even when both have gone. Feelit in my pores as the lanes of Qaiserbagh andAminabad. There were many others, drivers,shopkeepers, the candyman, gardener, thebarber and what not, what you would call ser-vice-deliverers in today’s terms. But mybond with them was never about a relation-

ship of convenience. Growing upwith them was in the normal flowof everydayness. It was never tobe screamed out as exception,simply because it was the rule. Itwas also about an informal butworldly-wise education. Today, inretrospect, such experienceswould be labelled as my father’sliberal experiments with classless-ness, his brashness in entrustinga significant part of my childhoodto strangers who were just aboutskilled but not educated enough,and along with my missionaryeducation, an erosion of myHindu mooring. The fact is hehad strengthened it in theprocess.

Nowhere is every puja, be itof Lakshmi, Saraswati orNarayan, solemnised at homewith such frequency as it is inBengal. Be it a bout of jaundiceor malaria, my mother wouldimmediately perform a puja forgratitude and fortitude. Thehome pujas made divinitysupreme over rituals and priori-tised the personal God over theregimented one. The worship ofDurga and her Kali avatars,which the zamindars turned intohuge community, all-faith affairs,has historically codified plurali-ty as a socio-cultural-religiouscredo. In the Bengal that I grewup in, pujas were a matter of peo-ple’s pride, an efflorescence of itscreative expression, not an emo-tion to be whisked and shreddedto prove a point. By throwing meinto this eco-system, my fatherhad never ever betrayed his painand anxieties over the Partition,of which he was a sufferer. He

knew displacement, denial anddestruction first hand but choseto resolve it his way like manyothers, levelling the furrows thanupturning them further. He wasvery particular about not privi-leging anyone over any other.

He found solace along theriver at Dakshineswar, a Shaktipeeth dedicated to Kali and hermost ardent devotee, SriRamakrishna Paramahansa, whoembraced a multi-faith approachto divinity as a cosmic essence,soul evolution as the only enlight-enment. Swami Vivekananda,who carried on his legacy andwho kept Hinduism relevant asa world religion, is sadly onlyquoted for exhibitionism whilehis plurality gets trampled day inand day out.

Midway through life now,through its many comedies andtragedies, weddings and funerals,there have been Muslim friends,peers and colleagues who havestood by me as steadfastly as fam-ily. Quite naturally. So it bothersme immensely when they ques-tion their Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb,when they ask whether their par-ents and grandparents were rightin choosing India as homelandduring Partition or when theywonder about applying for citi-zenship or work visas overseas.How does one console them fortheir systematic marginalisation,the dilution of their stakeholder-ship in nationhood? There is noexplaining to young Muslimshow their ancestors fought theelitist Muslim League’s imag-ined fears of slavery in a majori-tarian land, when current truth

is stranger than past fiction.Would we have imagined mark-ing the entrance to our homeswith religious motifs as a neces-sity than choice? Or thoughtabout reconverting shrines thatare few centuries old than build-ing new ones? Would we haveimagined classifying vegetablesand meat as Hindu or Muslim?That’s precisely what is happen-ing in Uttar Pradesh, with ven-dors tagging their religion ontheir signages. So after identitytheft, there is going to be an eco-nomic denial. As a “not so god-fearing Hindu,” hosting guests fordinner with decided preferencescould now be tricky business.

The politics of otherisationhas finally set in. It is an accumu-lation of prejudices, both latentand overt, simply because it nowhas a stamp of officialese cour-tesy a regime which predicatesreligion as not only proof of iden-tity but loyalty. It has seeped inbecause of a nationalist thoughtfactory that spins history lessonsas a retrospective duel with inva-sions than learning lessons fromthem. You cannot blame the fun-damentalist fringe like BajrangDal or Vishwa Hindu Parishadanymore. For their thinking ismainstream now, accepted by theeducated elite in drawing rooms.They may have pushed in fromthe fringes but it is the porosityof the intelligentsia which hasyielded to their osmotic pressure.Because we need an excuse to jus-tify our failures. And an easy oneat that. Unlike the economy,global trade winds and povertythat we have no control over, we

need an aggressor we can tamevisibly. So we have created a newenemy within our own andtransferred all our non-func-tioning abilities to “termites”and “viruses” detected after 70years of incubation. Mainstreamacceptance is the most dreadedmonster, for it means obeyinghanded down guidelines andabjuring any responsibilitytowards nation-building.

The establishment’s segrega-tory policies and practices havehurt and alienated the enlight-ened “Indian Muslims” whom itis so desperate to reassure in pub-lic. Not that the latter aren’t try-ing; if the recent protests over thecitizenship law are any indica-tion, then Muslims haveemerged as rightful citizens pro-tecting their existence than out-sourcing their crusade to eitherthe clergy or votebank politi-cians. Many elite Muslims, so farconfined to their own spheres ofexcellence, are now stepping upas demanding citizens. Yet theyfeel vulnerable without thearmour of a stereotype. Thoughthere have been no major sepa-ratist protests that you wouldassociate with minorityism inother nations, we could see a rad-icalisation of an unknown kindif justice fails them now. For the“Indian Muslims” have neversought any autonomy or privi-leges as their co-religionists inKashmir have, and they haveexisted pan-India with local sen-sibilities. They have consideredIndia their holy land.

The public parade of anti-CAA protesters in Uttar Pradesh,some of them proven activists,presenting them in a rogue’sgallery and recovering costs ofdamage to public property fromthem, legitimises this hatred asmainstream and taints an entirecommunity with the same brush.There is no room for dissent, justacquiescence. No space for con-science, but extremism.

What we once dismissed ashilarious is dead serious.Consider the diktat warningMuslim men against marryingHindu girls or women or thetoxic masculinity of Hindu mendeclaring their right to marryKashmiri women post the abro-gation of Article 370. Such claimsare finding a ready receptacle indrawing room chatter overevening drinks. A Hindu may notknow all stanzas of VandeMataram but a Muslim unable torecite them — albeit under fearof the gun as seen in the Delhiriots — is a traitor. It is not thatMuslims haven’t been ghettoisedor targetted before for politicalgains. They have. But the prob-lem now is that we have cast themaway in the poisonous gas cham-bers of our minds.

(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Bit allowed” (March 5). There ismuch more to the SupremeCourt’s order lifting the ban oncryptocurrency imposed by theReserve Bank of India (RBI) earlyin 2018 than just opting for a newvehicle for transmission of funds.While the industry has hailed theapex court’s order, it is notewor-thy that it has not given in-prin-ciple approval to cryptocurrencyexchanges. This form of trade callsfor constant upgrade of antimoney laundering laws and moreimportantly, data privacy. Even inthe US, where crypto trading islegal, Facebook’s new digital cur-rency, the Libra project, faced stiffresistance from regulators due toprivacy concerns.

Nevertheless, the top court’sverdict will have broader conno-tations. It will encourage Indianregulators to be open to newertechnologies even as they honetheir skills in designing pragmat-ic fire walls around misuse. Thereis much toil ahead in every sphereas technology forces a paradigmshift from familiar hearths.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Train wreck” (March 7). Thecrisis at Yes Bank has exposed thedeep loopholes in the Indianbanking system. Bad loans, fraudsand boardroom feuds are some of

the issues afflicting the Indianbanking sector. These crises havenow taken a toll on the bank’s cus-tomer-focussed approach, whichotherwise used to be the prima-ry goal. In Yes Bank’s case, theReserve Bank of India (RBI)failed to take lessons from the

PMC bank crisis. It should havestepped in at the right timeinstead of acting when the panicbutton was pressed.

The State Bank of India(SBI)’s takeover bid may result indelayed transactions, thus invit-ing customer’s ire. All focus must

now be on hastening the acqui-sition process. The RBI, too,must be unanimous in itsapproach to rescue banks, be itprivate or co-operative.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“House row over riots” (March 7).Parliamentary proceedings areusually synonymous with pande-monium. But what happenedrecently was a new low for ourtemple of democracy. It was all butexpected that the communal vio-lence that engulfed northeastDelhi would take centrestage inParliament. It’s a pity that theOpposition and Treasury bench-es clashed with each other over theissue. Unruly behaviour by parlia-mentarians won’t help in deter-mining the whys and whereforesof the mayhem. If the Oppositionwants to hold the Governmentaccountable, it has to be done byusing clear words and arguments.

JS AcharyaNew South Wales

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Page 9: 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

Last week the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) took control of oneof the country’s top-five private

sector lenders, Yes Bank, and imposedlimits on withdrawals. This has trig-gered confusion and fear amongaccount holders. But was this the firstcase or do we have a history of bankfailures?

Bank frauds and banks in crisishave been an integral part of India’sfinancial history as between 1935 and1947, nearly 900 banks failed. This wasfollowed by 665 banks going bust inthe period from 1947 till nationalisa-tion of private banks in 1969. In fact,one of the major reasons for theGovernment’s decision to nationalisethe biggest banks in the country was

their repeated failures. After 1969, theRBI became highly conservative andno new bank licences were issued till1994, when 10 new banks were givenpermits. In the early 2000s, two morebanks were given licences, followed byanother two in 2014. Since then, onlya few special banks like local areabanks, payments banks and smallfinance banks have been licensed.

Why Yes Bank failed: The YesBank crisis was a long time coming.The RBI had raised concerns over cor-porate governance lapses and thedeteriorating quality of the bank’sloan books in the last few years. YesBank rapidly expanded its corporateloan book by aggressively lending tocorporates. Rana Kapoor, then-Managing Director and CEO, isknown to be a risk-taker, lending toeven stressed companies. The crisiswas an accident waiting to happensince 2008, when the global econom-ic recession shook the world. While theworld economy tanked and marketswent into panic mode, there wasabsolutely no impact on Yes Bank andall through 2008-2010, Rana Kapoorcontinued to giving loans to both com-panies and individuals. In fact, one

financial magazine reported, “Ifnobody will lend you money, RanaKapoor certainly will. Many an indus-trialist has lived for a good part of thelast decade or more with this unshake-able belief.” Those taking a loan fromthe bank were required to pay anupfront fee, which in turn was used torun the bank.

A bank that started from scratchand built an asset book of over �3 lakhcrore in a little over a decade was sign-ing away cheques to nearly every bor-rower, who either went bust or turnedinto a non-performing asset (NPA)within years. Yes Bank gave loans toalmost every stressed entity in India,including IL&FS, Dewan Housing, JetAirways, Cox & Kings, CG Power andCafe Coffee Day and so on. A foreignbanker, Kapoor was a well-known facein the corporate sector and used to cutmost of the deals. This route not onlygave him a higher interest rate but alsohelped him secure a collateral againstthat loan. But when things turned bad,the bank found it difficult to monetisethe collateral either. Take, for instance,the shares it had as collateral in somecases, whose value deterioratedbecause of the slide in the fortune of

the corporate entity. Kapoor thoughtthat he had found his niche by lend-ing to well-known companies whowere finding it difficult to get financesfrom existing lenders. What looked likea masterstroke at the time turned outto be the bank’s nemesis. Yes Bank’sstock hit an all-time high in August2018 and market capitalisation crossed�1 lakh crore. But it began retreatingsoon after and due to capital erosion,the bank was in dire need of freshinvestments. Yes Bank started work-ing on it and Kapoor stepped down inJanuary 2019. Ravneet Gill wasappointed as the new CEO and tookthe reins in March 2019.

In February 2019, the bankannounced that a risk assessmentreport conducted by the RBI did notfind any divergence in the recognitionof bad debts. A day later, RBI pulledup the bank for selectively disclosinga confidential report. The regulatorpointed out that the report hadrevealed several lapses and regulato-ry breaches in the bank’s functioning,and the selective disclosure by the bankwas a deliberate attempt to mislead.

In December 2019 Yes Bank saidtwo investors, SPGP Holdings and

Erwin Braich, were interested in buy-ing stake in it. But after rejection ofBraich’s offer, failure was inevitable.The RBI has superseded the board andwill take charge of it.

Banking regulations in India:Banks in the country are now gov-erned by both international Baselnorms and domestic regulations. TheRBI has extensive powers to inspectbanks and intervene in their opera-tions. Given the fact that banking reg-ulations have only got stringent overtime, all these bank failures are puz-zling.

There are four primary issuesplaguing Indian banks that come to thefore. These are poor decision-makingdue to the lack of capacity to judge pro-ject quality. Plus, there is a structuralasset-liability mismatch due to long-dated assets and short-dated liabilities;a delay in recognising NPAs on thebooks and outright fraud and theabsence of fundamental corporategovernance standards.

While the first two factors havereceived significant coverage and dis-cussion, the last two factors probablydeserve even greater attention goingforward, given the gravity of the situ-

ation. While the first two revolve pri-marily around the skill and capacity ofthe lender to assess sectoral, compa-ny and project risk keeping in mind themicro-structure of their balance sheets,the last two are to a large extent relat-ed to the level of corporate governance.Unless we strengthen corporate gov-ernance, we will keep suffering bankfailures. The Companies (Auditor’sReport) Order 2020 is also a steptowards transparency and accountabil-ity.

Protect your money: The issue ofprotection of bank depositors hasstoked frequent debates. However,these remain academic only as we hadnot seen concrete action on theground on bank loan defaulters.Whatever might be happening in thebanking sector, the tragedy is that thecommon man is always on the receiv-ing end. The Government, in this year’sUnion Budget, announced that theinsurance cover for small depositorshas been increased to �5 lakh from �1lakh. This means that at the most,depositors will get back �5 lakh if theirbank goes out of operation.

Significantly, this is the first timein 27 years that insurance limit on bank

deposits has been revised. Depositinsurance commenced in India witha limit of �5,000 in 1968 and wasrevised to �10,000 two years later in1970. The next revision happened in1976 to �20,000. Again in 1980, thelimit was changed to �30,000 and thelast revision took place in 1993 whenit was increased to �1 lakh. A SBIresearch paper has pointed out that thedeposit coverage in India is one of thelowest in terms of per captia income.

Even the revised cover of �5 lakhis not sufficient. Thus, diversificationholds the key to safeguarding money.People can try and keep their moneyin three-four different banks. Forinstance, a depositor can have oneaccount with a PSB, second accountwith a private bank and another onewith a foreign bank. Also, people canuse the services of the nearest PostOffice for extra safety. Spreading fixeddeposits in various banks and addingexposure to liquid funds or cashfunds of mutual funds, are also somesafe options. This way, depositors willnot be keeping all their eggs in one bas-ket and their nest egg will stay safe.

(The writer is an author and GSTand economics specialist)

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As the world celebrated another Women’s Day,on March 8, this time under the shadow ofthe lethal Coronavirus, with scientists and

medical professionals across the globe workinground the clock to develop a vaccine to counter thevirus, it is pertinent to reflect on the ratherambivalent relationship between gender, on onehand, and research and technology, on the other.From the almost unanimous perception that muchfewer women than men are found in the fields ofscience, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) emerges the paradox that the gender gapin science education is the result of choice ratherthan any constraint. Women, particularly inadvanced societies, voluntarily pursue careers inother fields rather than STEM. This paradoxneeds to be unbundled, especially in the currentgrim environment wherein men and women needto stand shoulder to shoulder to decimate the killervirus and restore normal life and health in the world.

Traditionally, several scholars and policymak-ers have pointed out male domination of STEMfields, with historically low participation of womenin these professions. The reasons for this gender dis-parity are reportedly lack of encouragement fromparents to daughters for pursuing higher studies inmathematics and science and laboratory experiencesand financial resources needed to study these sub-jects, all of which favour men over women. The factthat the privileged professions with high remuner-ations in STEM fields are dotted with men is anundisputed corollary of this gender gap.

A 2018 survey conducted by Mastercard andIncite, titled Revisiting Women in STEM, carried outamong 136 Indian women, working in both STEMand non-STEM jobs, arrived at some intriguingresults. It found that 45 per cent of the womenrespondents working in STEM jobs were dissatis-fied with their current career choice and also didnot expect to continue in the job for their entirework life. Regarding the reasons for this discontent,46 per cent cited the need for constantly updatingtheir skills in STEM careers, 39 per cent were unableto adjust to the long hours and commitment need-ed in these jobs and 36 per cent were apprehensiveof working in a male-dominated office environment.In addition, 24 per cent complained that womenwere less likely to be paid as much as men in thesehigh-profile occupations. All of these are valid rea-sons for women to be wary of joining the scienceand technology bandwagon but they have seriousimplications for attracting bright, young women intothese streams.

The situation is complicated further by the playof discriminatory forces constantly seeking to limitthe frontiers of higher education and employmentfor women, especially in conservative societiesacross India. Academics and experts in the field ofeducation also argue that the gender gap in India’stechnological workforce is an outcome of the lackof both infrastructure and quality teachers in tech-nical institutions of higher learning that fail toaccommodate more women students. This discrim-ination is exacerbated by the persistent male-femaleand urban-rural divide in India’s pedagogicallandscape.

In consonance with these findings, scholarsusing data from the India Human DevelopmentSurvey (IHDS) have also repeatedly asserted that

gender inequality in educational outcomesin India is a product of social back-grounds, access to learning resources andcultural attitudes, which lead parents toprioritise their son’s education overdaughter’s education.

The IHDS, carried out by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER) in collaboration withthe University of Maryland, in two waves,in 2004-05 and 2011-12, points out thatthe prevalence of a gendered educationsystem stemming from India’s patriarchalsociety has created all-round fissures ineducational attainments.

This issue is also flagged up in a 2019paper by leading IHDS researchers at theUniversity of Maryland’s SociologyDepartment titled, The Emergence ofEducational Hypogamy in India. Thepaper argues that though women todayare more likely to be involved in highereducation than before, often even beingmore educated than their spouses, interms of subjects, they are still more rep-resentative in traditionally considered“feminine” fields such as humanities andsocial sciences, while men are more like-ly to be in the STEM fields, which gen-erate higher economic returns in thelabour market.

Coming back to the Coronavirus, inan article in The Independent last week,Ian Hamilton, lecturer in mental healthat the Department of Health Sciences,University of York, takes the discrimina-tion argument further. He claimed thatdue to differences in the immune systemsof men and women, there is a need todevelop two different strains of the vac-cine as women often have more severeadverse reactions and higher antibodyresponses to disease. But sexism is like-

ly to prevent woman-centred research. In such a situation, women may end

up receiving sub-optimal treatment, lead-ing to higher mortality. He cites the exam-ple of the last global pandemic, SARS,when even the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) had pointed to thegender gap in data, specifically relating tothe serious impact of the disease for preg-nant women that was not sufficientlyaddressed by the SARS vaccine.

“From cancer to Coronavirus, thereisn’t an area of health research or sciencethat is not gender-blind. Science, itseems, is institutionally sexist,” fulminatesHamilton. He links this medical sexismto the paucity of women in seniorresearch roles and a gender imbalance intechnological laboratories dominated bymen who may never be able to fullyunderstand a woman’s health experiences.It is also widely suggested that womenmay be found aplenty in early-career lev-els of medical research but their malepeers are more likely to ascend the pro-fessional ladder and become professors.

However, there is light beyond thetunnel, as women scientists are current-ly seen to be increasingly pro-active intheir fight against the Coronavirus.Among the most prominent of them is anall-women team of four scientists, led byIndia-born Nita Patel, Director forVaccine Development and AntibodyDiscovery at the Novavax Laboratory inthe unassuming neighbourhood ofGaithersburg, Montgomery County ofMaryland, USA. And there are otherwomen scientists around the worldinvolved in the same pursuit.

Patel and her team are working dayand night to isolate the virus and find abreakthrough vaccine against Covid-19

using recombinant nanoparticle technol-ogy. When an ABC7 news reporter askedher what signal it would give young girlsif the vaccine came from the hands ofwomen, Patel said, “Well, that’s encour-aging for young girls to become scientists.You know, I’m a woman (and can say)that’s awesome.” Novavax is aiming at anextremely aggressive timeline, havingreached phase-II of development of thevaccine. If they get the next phase of tri-als right, they could hit the market witha viable vaccine in as little as three months.

However, Patel and her team are notthe only women engaged in the grim bat-tle against Coronavirus. Kathleen Neuzil,director of the University of Maryland’sSchool of Medicine’s Center for VaccineDevelopment, who co-leads a consortiumestablished by the National Institutes ofHealth at Emory University in Atlanta, toquickly tackle new infectious diseases, isalso working in this area.

Another notable STEM researcher isLauren Gardner, a civil engineering pro-fessor at Johns Hopkins University, whohas led a team to build a map based oninformation collected from varioussources in China, the US and elsewhereto track the spread of the virus and locateareas where the virus is taking hold in realtime and where it may attack more infuture. Surely, these path-breakingendeavours by women would not onlyprovide succour by saving thousands oflives against the killer disease but alsoinfluence STEM research and policymak-ing in the long term. Can we still say thatSTEM is not for women?

(The writer is consultant editor at theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch, New Delhi. The views expressedare personal)

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Markets are likely to remainunder pressure in the

holiday-shortened week aheadwith investors tracking the YesBank crisis and the coron-avirus outbreak which have casta shadow over trading senti-ment, analysts said.

Equity markets wouldremain closed on Tuesday for‘Holi’.

Several key macroeco-nomic data announcementsare also scheduled during theweek. Industrial productionand retail inflation rate will bereleased on Thursday and WPIinflation on Friday.

“Given the volatility andfearful psychology, market par-ticipants are likely to drift awayand reduce their exposure toequities till clarity emerges onfinancial distress (Yes Bankand Covid-19),” Jimeet Modi,Founder & CEO, SAMCOSecurities & StockNote said.

Markets are expected toremain low with subdued inter-est and little activity fromactive investors, he added.

“Indian equity market con-tinued its sharp slide for thesecond consecutive week onfears of fast spreading coron-avirus cases outside China andYes Bank crisis and its reper-cussions on the financial sys-tem. Till we see a semblance ofnormalcy returning, marketsare likely to remain under

pressure and highly volatile.Fluctuations in FII equity flowscan also add to volatility,” saidSiddhartha Khemka, Head -Retail Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

Religare Broking, VP -Research, Ajit Mishra said,“We continue to maintain ourcautious view on Indian mar-kets and expect volatility toremain high in the near term.The updates on spread of coro-navirus cases would be the sin-gle biggest factor dictatingglobal markets going forward.On the domestic front, updateson resolution plan for Yes Bankalong with spread of coron-avirus cases would be activelytracked by traders andinvestors.”

During the last week,Sensex plunged 720.67 pointsor 1.88 per cent.

The Sensex had plummet-ed 894 points on Friday as reg-ulatory curbs on Yes Banktriggered broad-based selling.

Yes Bank tanked over 55per cent on Friday after the RBI

placed the lender under amoratorium, capping depositwithdrawals at Rs 50,000 peraccount for a month and super-seding its board.

Meanwhile, theEnforcement Directorate onSunday arrested Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor undermoney laundering charges.

“Another bank bites thedust. This time its Yes Bank -one of the large private sectorbanks. RBI has stepped in andleading state-owned institu-tions are patching up a bailoutplan for the bank and moreimportantly, safeguard theinterest of depositors. However,the already weak sentimentshave been dented further.

“The series of accidents inthe Indian financial sectorsends out a very poor messageto the foreign investors. Thenegative bias is expected wouldsustain in the near term,” saidGaurav Dua, Senior VP, Head— Capital Market Strategy &Investments, Sharekhan byBNP Paribas.

On the global front, equi-ty markets have tumbled onfears that the coronavirus epi-demic will tip the world econ-omy into a recession.

“The market sentimentscould revive only if globalmarkets settle down and fearsof global slowdown recedesoon,” said Deepak Jasani,Head Retail Research, HDFCSecurities.

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The Government hasordered all telecom firms to

make a 30-second audio clip oncoronavirus as a caller tune ofmobile phone users to createawareness among masses aboutthe epidemic — an order thatstate-owned BSNL andReliance Jio have fully compliedwith while other telcos are yetto follow.

Top sources said on arequest from the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare,the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)ordered superseding of thephone ringing tone that onehears on dialling a number,with the 30-second informa-tion clip. The only exception tonot hearing the coronavirusmessage is when a user has sub-scribed to a particular tune,they said.

All telcos were asked toincorporate the coronavirusringing tone but so far onlystate-owned BSNL andReliance Jio are in full compli-ance. The other telcos havecited technical issues for partimplementation, they said.

The DoT had on Fridaysent email instructions to alltelcos to make the coronavirusaudio clip as the ‘ring back tone’to help disseminate informa-tion to masses.

The order asked telcos to“incorporate audio clips inring back tone of each sub-scribers on urgent basis fromtoday till further orders”.

����� #89��8:�;

Amid deepening coron-avirus crisis across the

world, global steel giantArcelorMittal has expressedapprehensions of its sales andprofitability getting impacted in2020 in case the virus spreadswidely through Europe, par-ticularly in Italy.

The Luxembourg-head-quartered company is theworld’s largest steel producerwith steel-making operations in18 countries on four conti-nents, including 46 integratedand mini-mill steel-makingfacilities. It recently completedacquisition of debt-ridden EssarSteel in India for about �42,000crore and has announced plansto ramp up its finished steelproducing capacity in India to8.5 million tonnes per annumby the end of 2024.

“The recent increase incases outside China is worry-ing and increases the risk of aglobal pandemic and a muchlarger negative impact on glob-al GDP. The Company is mon-itoring the situation closelyand in particular in Italy, asshould the virus spread morewidely through Europe thiswill likely have a materialimpact on the Company’s salesand profitability in 2020,” thesteel behemoth said in its lat-est annual report.

In Italy, the epicentre ofEurope’s outbreak, death tollhas climbed to more than 230,and its confirmed cases to5,800, third behind SouthKorea and China, where the

virus was first detected inDecember.

The company said the epi-demic may affectArcelorMittal’s operations incertain regions and cited exam-ples of how its projects wereimpacted in Liberia in 2014and 2015 during the Ebolavirus disease epidemic.

“There can be no assurancethat other epidemics, includingthe recent outbreak of thecoronavirus in China, will notadversely affect ArcelorMittal’songoing operations, produc-tion targets and expansionplans, if any, in other marketsin which it operates,” the com-pany said.

The ADB has predictedglobal losses due to the dead-ly coronavirus outbreak atabout $156 billion, of whichChina may account for $103billion.

ArcelorMittal said itexpected Chinese steel demandto grow in 2020 within a “rangeof +0.0% to +1.0% (versusestimated growth of +3.2% in2019) driven by robust realestate activity and given theCompany’s current view on theCoronavirus. This may berevised downward due to theimpact of the Coronavirus onChinese demand and theknock-on impact elsewhere.”

It said the precise impact ofthe coronavirus is unknownbut it has had a negative impacton Chinese prices and spreads,and the situation could con-tinue if inventories keep risingat mills in China, puttingdownward pressure on pricing.

����� #89��8:�;

Indiabulls Housing Financeon Sunday said Yes Bank

owes �662 crore in the form ofbonds to the company and ithas no term loans outstandingfrom the lender.

“We wish to inform thatYes Bank owes to IndiabullsHousing Finance �662 crore viaadditional tier 1 (AT-1) bonds,”it said in a regulatory filing.

The investments in AT-1bonds of Yes Bank were madein 2017, as part of its treasurymanagement of over �20,000crore of cash and when thebank was worth over $10 bil-lion in value, it said.

“Indiabulls HousingFinance has no term loansoutstanding from Yes Bank,” itsaid.

Sameer Gehlaut, promoterof Indiabulls Housing Finance,or any of his companies or anyof his family member compa-nies have no loans outstandingfrom Yes Bank, the non-bank-ing finance company said fur-ther.

The statement fromIndiabulls Housing comes

amid arrest of Yes Bank co-founder and former CEO RanaKapoor, on alleged moneylaundering charges and that theloans by the lender to DHFLturned sour.

Yes Bank has been putunder moratorium until April3, during which period cus-tomers will not be allowed tomake withdrawal of more than�50,000, as also the board hasbeen superseded by the ReserveBank of India (RBI) throughappointment of an adminis-trator, Prashant Kumar, formerexecutive of SBI.

A plan of reconstruction ofYes Bank is underway underthe RBI, wherein SBI will stakeclaim of 49 per cent equity inthe crippled private sectorlender through an investmentof �2,450 crore.

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Allaying concerns overbanking sector health in

the wake of Yes Bank fiasco,Chief Economic AdviserKrishnamurthy Subramanianon Sunday said Indian banksare well capitalised and there isno reason to worry.

He further said that it is awrong method to assess alender’s health based on theratio of deposit to m-cap (mar-ket capitalisation).

“What I want to emphati-cally state that the m-cap ratiois a totally incorrect metric forassessing the safety of thebanks. No banking sectorexpert or banking regulatoruses this measure,”Subramanian said whileaddressing a select mediaper-sons at his office here.

After what all unfoldedabout the crisis-hit Yes Bankrecently, top government func-tionaries including FinanceMinister Sitharaman, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das andthe chief economic advisorhave been trying to assuagepanicked investors.

The CEA said that nobanking sector experts or reg-ulators use deposit/m-cap ratioas a measure to gauge resilience

of banks rather it is the capitalto risk weighted assets ratio(CRAR) and other such met-rics that can rightly gauge thehealth of banks.

“What banking sectorexperts and regulators use iswhat is called the CRAR. It isimportant to keep this in mindthat the international norms forCRAR is 8 per cent and Indianbanks on an average have aCRAR of 14.3 per cent.

“So, 8 per cent is the man-dated minimum norm and ourbanks on the average have 14.3per cent (CRAR). Now 14.3 percent versus 8 per cent almosttranslates into 80 per centgreater capital than the inter-national norms,” he said.

He further said that theReserve Bank of India (RBI)

mandates the Indian banks tokeep CRAR at 9 per cent.

“Even compared to thatour banks have 60 per centmore capital. So this is some-thing that is very important.”

Giving reasons as to whythe deposit/m-cap ratio is anincorrect measure to assessthe health of the banks, he saidthe m-cap ratio is essentiallythe ratio of the deposits that abank has to its market capital-isation.

“Now if you compare forinstance any bank lets say a pri-vate sector bank with the StateBank of India, State Bank ofIndia would have an order ofmagnitude of higher m-capratio.

“But the State Bank ofIndia is as safe as the anyother bank in the world. In factit is the only Indian bank to bethe part of the top 100 banksinternationally.”

So this ratio does not real-ly capture the safety of a bankbecause it is actually affected bythe market capitalisation. “Asyou all know the stock price ofa bank can change minute tominute, as a result the m-capratio will also change minute tominute but the solvency cannotchange minute to minute,”Subramanian said.

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Allaying concerns raised bymany after Yes Bank fias-

co, the Reserve Bank onSunday reiterated that deposi-tors’ money is safe and it isclosely monitoring all banks.

The RBI further said thatconcerns about the safety ofdeposits in banks are based ona flawed analysis.

“Concern has been raisedin certain sections of mediaabout safety of deposits of cer-tain banks. This concern isbased on analysis which isflawed. Solvency of banks isinternationally based onCapital to Risk Weighted Assets(CRAR) and not on marketcap,” the central bank said in atweet.

“RBI closely monitors allthe banks and hereby assures alldepositors that there is nosuch concern of safety of theirdeposits in any bank,” its sec-ond tweet said.

Earlier, echoing similarsentiments, Chief EconomicAdviser KrishnamurthySubramanian said Indian banksare well capitalised and there isno reason to worry, adding thatit is a wrong method to assessa lender’s health based on the

ratio of deposit to m-cap (mar-ket capitalisation).

“What I want to emphati-cally state that the m-cap ratiois a totally incorrect metric forassessing the safety of thebanks. No banking sectorexpert or banking regulatoruses this measure,”Subramanian said.

A day after imposing a 30-day moratorium on Yes Bankand capping withdrawal limitat �50,000, the RBI on Fridayevening had issued a draftreconstruction scheme for theprivate sector lender.

As per the RBI’s draftreconstruction scheme, StateBank of India will pick up 49per cent stake in the crisis-rid-den Yes Bank under a govern-ment-approved bailout plan.

����� #89��8:�;

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) has dismissed thetelecom department’s plea cit-ing delay in appeal against theNCLT order which held thatthe spectrum and licence ofdebt-ridden Aircel cannot betaken away during the insol-vency resolution period.

The Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)had appealed against an orderof the Mumbai bench of theNational Company LawTribunal (NCLT).

In its plea, the DoT raisedthe issue as whetherlicence/spectrum to run a tele-com company could be subjectto moratorium during theinsolvency proceedings or not.

However, a three-memberbench of the NCLAT held thatthe petition filed by the DoTwas time barred under theprovisions of Section 61 of theInsolvency & BankruptcyCode, 2016.

Under the IBC, any appealagainst order passed by theNCLT could be filed before theappellate tribunal within 30days and the delay which canbe condoned for reasonable

cause in the NCLAT is only 15days.

“This appeal was present-ed on February 20, 2020. Evengiving the longest rope, if wecalculate the period fromDecember 20, 2019, the appealis presented consuming 61days. This being so, the appealis time barred and for want ofjurisdiction, we cannot entertain the appeal,” saidNCLAT.

“The appeal is dismissed astime barred,” it said.

The order was passed bythe National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) on November27, 2019.

The NCLT order had comeover the plea filed by the reso-lution professional of the com-pany over apprehension that itslicense and spectrum could besuspended after DoT issueddemand notice

Though, the NCLT in itsorder accepted that licenceand spectrum is an asset ofDoT and Aircel has no right ofownership but said that claus-es of moratorium are “square-ly applicable on this CorporateInsolvency Resolution ProcessProceedings, hence need not beinterrupted or hampered byany authority.”

����� #89��8:�;

State-owned BSNL andMTNL have told the sector

regulator Trai that tariff fixationshould be applicable only ontelcos with more than 15 percent subscriber base in a servicearea, while those with lower ornegligible user base should beexempt from the purview ofminimum floor price.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that Bharat SancharNigam Ltd (BSNL) - whichoperates telecom servicesacross India except Delhi andMumbai circles - has about 10.3per cent market share in allIndia mobile subscriber base.Mahanagar Telephone NigamLtd (MTNL), present in Delhiand Mumbai, has 0.29 per centmobile market share, as per thelatest Trai data.

Reliance Jio leads the Indiamobile subscriber market witha share of 32.1 per cent, whileBharti Airtel and VodafoneIdea have 28.43 per cent shareand 28.89 per cent share on anall India basis, respectively.

In their suggestions to Trai,the two public sector operatorshave acknowledged that thetelecom industry is facing heatdue to sudden and unexpect-

ed entry of “capital rich telecomservice providers” offering freeand ultra low tariffs, leading toclosure of many players andthat the situation has got com-pounded by companiesrequired to make hugeAdjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) payouts after theSupreme Court order.

“...The telecom industryneeds a helping hand - at leastin the immediate short term -from the authority to survive ,”the two companies have toldTrai in nearly identical sub-missions.

The two have batted forfixing of floor prices byTelecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai) but with a rider.

����� #89��8:�;

Aspate of defaults by someNBFCs has forced capital

markets regulator Sebi to comeout with a new set of measuresto secure the interest of deben-ture holders and shore up theirconfidence in the regulatorymechanism to check anywrongdoings.

In a new consultationpaper, the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)has proposed a detailed reviewof the regulatory framework for CorporateBonds and Debenture Trustees (DTs).

As per the consultationpaper, non-banking financialcompanies (NBFCs) will nowbe required to create an iden-tified charge on the assets, asthe pari-passu floating chargein case of recent defaults ofNBFCs in secured loans hascreated confusion as to whetherthe debentures are reallysecured.

According to the regulator,creation of an identified chargeby NBFCs will enable liquida-tion of asset and return of debt quickly to theinvestors in the event of anydefault.

� ��� �5,.;

Shares in the energy-depen-dent Gulf plunged to multi-

year lows Sunday after OPEC’sfailure to agree on a coron-avirus action plan promptedfears of an all-out oil price war.

OPEC and its allies failedto clinch a deal on productioncuts that would have offeredsupport to energy markets,sending prices tumbling tofour-year lows on Friday.

The OPEC+ meeting wasexpected to agree to deepercuts of 1.5 million barrels perday to counter the effects of thenovel coronavirus, but Moscowrefused to tighten supply.

Fears of a price war werestoked as Saudi Arabia — theworld’s top exporter — quick-ly responded by making sig-nificant cuts to its oil price.

All the seven bourses in theGulf were in the red amid apanic sell-off over fears thatenergy prices, the mainstay ofpublic revenues in the region,could collapse.

The Saudi stock market,the largest in the region, divedby 8.3 per cent at close onSunday, the first day of thetrading week. It was the lowest

closing since November 2017.Shares in oil giant Saudi

Aramco dropped below theirIPO price of 32 riyals ($8.5) forthe first time, losing some 9.1per cent to 30.00 riyals.

The world’s biggest com-pany launched on the bourse tomuch fanfare in December ina record-breaking initial pub-lic offering, but since then itsmarket value has slipped fromthe IPO value of $1.71 trillionto $1.6 trillion.

The slide on the Saudimarket also came amidaccounts of high level arrestsamong the ruling family thatsent shockwaves around eco-nomic circles in the region.

Multiple sources told AFPthat Saudi authorities havedetained three princes, includ-ing King Salman’s brother andnephew, for allegedly plottinga coup, in a move that signalsCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman’s tightening grip onpower.

The Dubai FinancialMarket shed 7.9 per cent to itsworst closing in six years, whileits sister market in Abu Dhabifell 5.4 per cent and Qatar StockExchange dropped 2.9 per cent,the lowest since mid-2018.

New Delhi: Being steered by agovernment-appointed andeminent banker Uday Kotak-led board on its path to recov-ery, crisis-hit IL&FS has soughtextension of bid validity for fiveroad projects that are facedwith debts totalling over�10,000 crore.

Infrastructure Leasing andFinancial Services (IL&FS) hadreceived time-bound bindingbids for these five road projects,but the validity of those bidsexpired on February 29.

These five projects areChenani Nashri Tunnel project(CNTL), Pune Sholapur RoadDevelopment (PSRDCL),Jorbat Shillong ExpresswayLimited (JSEL), HazaribaghRanchi Expressway (HREL)and Jharkhand InfrastructureImplementation Company(JIICL). The five projects havereceived bids totalling �7,489crore, as against an aggregatedebt of �10,500 crore, as per anaffidavit filed by the companybefore the National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal.

When contacted, an IL&FSspokesperson told PTI, “We areworking with the bidders to getan extension of the bids andwill follow the laid-out processfor concluding the transactionon receipt of the extension.”

����� �5�,.;

With more and moreorganisations in the

country realising the impor-tance of gender parity, a recentstudy has revealed that Indiaranks 12th globally in womenmember presence on board.

According to a recent studyon ‘Women On Board 2020’ byglobal recruitment tenderingplatform MyHiringClub.Comand Sarkari-Naukri.Info, Indiaranked 12th worldwide inwomen member presence onboard.

This study was done onlineamongst 7,824 listed companiesacross 36 countries, includingIndia. In India, 628 listedemployers participated in thisstudy. The study revealed thatamong these 628 listed com-panies, 55 per cent have womendirectors, which is 14 per centhigher than last year.

Overall, it found thatwomen’s director on boardpercentage is 14.87 per cent,more than double compared tothe last two years.

Among them, 29 per centof the boards have two womendirectors, 63 per cent of theseboards have only one womandirector each, it said.

New Delhi: State-owned SteelAuthority of India Ltd (SAIL)is in talks with the IndianRailways for an order to supplyabout 15.5 lakh tonnes of railin the next financial year, acompany official said.

SAIL, under the steel min-istry, is the country’s largeststeel-making company and asper an agreement, it suppliesrails to Indian Railways.

The Indian Railways hadplaced an order with SAIL forsupply of 13.5 lakh tonne railsin the current financial year.

Till February 29, the com-pany produced 11.65 lakhtonne rails, according to SAIL.

On asked about theRailways’ order for 2020-21, theofficial said the companyexpects an order of 15.5 lakhtonne rails in the next financialyear for which it is in talks withthe Railways.

A source said that gener-ally, the Railways places itsorder by the last week of Marchor in the first week of April.

Replying to an e-mailquery sent to SAIL, the com-pany said that “it has notreceived the order for rails forthe financial year 2020-21 fromthe Indian Railways yet.However, SAIL is geared up tofulfil any order, which will beplaced by the Indian Railways”.

According to official data,in 2018-19, SAIL supplied 9.68lakh tonnes of rails as againstthe demand of about 14 lakhtonnes. In the previous year, thepublic sector undertaking sup-plied 8.74 lakh tonnes asagainst the demand of 11.4 lakhtonnes. During 2016-17, SAILsupplied 6.20 lakh tonnes asagainst the Railways’ requirement of 10.05 lakhtonnes. PTI

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Scheme NAV 1Yr %DSP World Gold Fund-Reg(G) 15.32 34.73SBI Tax Advantage Fund-III-Reg(G) 28.95 27.42SBI Tax advantage Fund-II(G) 41.43 23.87SBI LT Advantage Fund-IV-Reg(G) 14.58 20.53BNP Paribas India Consumption 12.94 19.73Fund-Reg(G)DSP Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 12.17 19.32Franklin India Feeder - Franklin 35.49 18.31U.S. Opportunities Fund(G)PGIM India Global Equity Opp 21.47 18.03Fund(G)Sundaram Services Fund-Reg(G) 12.27 16.69Axis Focused 25 Fund-Reg(G) 30.40 16.48Sundaram Select Small Cap 15.79 16.12Series-III-Reg(G)Axis Long Term Equity Fund-Reg(G) 49.07 15.98Axis Bluechip Fund-Reg(G) 31.43 15.72DSP Equity Fund-Reg(G) 42.67 15.10Sundaram Select Small Cap 15.68 15.07Series-IV-Reg(G)Mirae Asset Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 11.95 14.69Sundaram Multi Cap Fund-Sr 11.05 14.67II-Reg(G)Axis Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 12.50 14.57Sundaram Multi Cap 11.08 14.52Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)Sundaram Fin Serv Opp Fund(G) 43.57 14.26SBI Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 151.88 13.91ICICI Pru US Bluechip Equity 30.55 13.36Fund(G)Axis Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 39.98 13.29Invesco India PSU Equity Fund(G) 18.61 13.27Canara Rob Consumer Trends 42.40 12.86Fund-Reg(G)Nippon India US Equity Opp Fund(G) 16.84 12.74Motilal Oswal Focused 25 23.10 12.70Fund-Reg(G)Axis Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G) 11.79 12.50JM Multicap Fund(G) 33.70 12.50IDBI Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 11.24 12.40Tata India Pharma & Healthcare 9.92 12.11Fund-Reg(G)Tata Banking & Financial Services 19.44 11.98Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Bluechip Equity 26.39 11.82Fund-Reg(G)SBI Banking & Financial Services 18.82 11.54Fund-Reg(G)Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund-Reg(G)26.95 11.25Sundaram Select Small Cap 10.16 11.10Series-VI-Reg(G)Baroda Banking & Fin Serv Fund(G) 23.71 10.90Sundaram Select Small Cap 10.42 10.88Series-V-Reg(G)Motilal Oswal Long Term Equity 18.27 10.80Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Large Cap Fund(G) 91.98 10.77BNP Paribas Long Term Equity 39.89 10.75Fund(G)Axis Emerging Opp Fund-1-Reg(G) 13.22 10.72UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) 152.02 10.72Invesco India Smallcap Fund-Reg(G) 11.30 10.68Aditya Birla SL India GenNext 87.70 10.62Fund(G)Axis Capital Builder Fund-4-Reg(G) 11.16 10.28Aditya Birla SL Global Emerging 13.71 10.13Opp Fund(G)Principal Focused Multicap Fund(G) 67.31 10.13JM Tax Gain Fund(G) 17.76 10.09Canara Rob Equity Tax Saver 68.58 10.04Fund-Reg(G)Franklin Asian Equity Fund(G) 24.07 10.03Axis Emerging Opp Fund-2-Reg(G) 12.66 9.90DSP Global Allocation Fund-Reg(G) 13.35 9.88Invesco India Financial Services 58.05 9.76Fund(G)Invesco India Infrastructure Fund(G) 17.80 9.74Kotak Global Emerging Mkt Fund(G) 16.74 9.55IDFC Equity Opportunity-6-Reg(G) 10.62 9.37DSP Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 57.87 9.18SBI Healthcare Opp Fund-Reg(G) 128.64 9.16Aditya Birla SL Global Real Estate 21.13 9.07Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity Fund-A(G) 22.76 8.98SBI LT Advantage Fund-VI-Reg(G) 10.84 8.97Canara Rob Equity Diver Fund-Reg(G)140.19 8.84SBI LT Advantage Fund-V-Reg(G) 10.41 8.69DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 2-Reg(G) 10.41 8.61SBI Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 54.01 8.56Invesco India Midcap Fund(G) 51.79 8.46UTI India Consumer Fund-Reg(G) 26.73 8.30ICICI Pru Smallcap Fund(G) 25.33 8.02Edelweiss Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 11.47 7.87Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip-Reg(G)54.77 7.86Axis Capital Builder Fund-1-Reg(G) 10.63 7.81UTI Focussed Equity Fund-I(G) 14.03 7.72UTI Focussed Equity Fund-IV(G) 10.09 7.52Sundaram Emerging Small 11.07 7.51Cap-Sr-VII-Reg(G)Nippon India Growth Fund(G) 1152.68 7.43PGIM India Midcap Opp 18.91 7.38Fund-Reg(G)Kotak Emerging Equity Fund(G) 40.21 7.37Sundaram TOP 100-Sr VII-Reg(G) 12.64 7.28Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund(G) 206.35 7.21DSP Focus Fund-Reg(G) 23.51 7.17Sundaram Select Focus(G) 181.76 7.16Canara Rob Emerg Equities 97.09 7.16Fund-Reg(G)

Edelweiss Large & Mid Cap 32.04 7.16Fund-Reg(G)L&T Emerging Opp Fund-II-Reg(D) 10.27 7.10Sundaram TOP 100-Sr VI-Reg(G) 12.84 7.09Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund(G) 143.69 7.08IDBI Equity Advantage Fund-Reg(G) 27.18 7.01Kotak Small Cap Fund(G) 74.03 6.92SBI Magnum Global Fund-Reg(G) 177.13 6.89Nippon India Japan Equity Fund(G) 13.28 6.86Kotak Equity Opp Fund(G) 122.83 6.78Invesco India Tax Plan(G) 52.28 6.67IDBI India Top 100 Equity Fund(G) 24.32 6.62L&T Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 10.95 6.56BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund(G) 32.60 6.53Nippon India Pharma Fund(G) 160.31 6.48UTI Focussed Equity Fund-VI(G) 10.23 6.44Franklin India Technology Fund(G) 170.80 6.38ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.25 6.33Fund-4-(G)UTI Focussed Equity Fund-V(G) 9.74 6.17

PGIM India Euro Equity Fund(G) 14.19 6.13Nippon India Consumption Fund(G) 66.87 6.09Kotak Tax Saver Fund(G) 44.73 6.05DSP Top 100 Equity Fund-Reg(G) 207.28 5.96Principal Global Opportunities 30.14 5.93Fund(G)IDFC Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 37.48 5.88UTI Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 89.51 5.83SBI Magnum Equity ESG 105.24 5.82Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Large and Mid Cap 35.00 5.80Fund(G)Principal Emerging Bluechip Fund(G) 105.98 5.77Mirae Asset Great Consumer 35.64 5.74Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Equity Advantage 409.06 5.67Fund(G)SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr I-Reg(G) 16.08 5.66Aditya Birla SL MNC Fund-Reg(G) 788.42 5.59SBI LT Advantage Fund-III-Reg(G) 13.43 5.59Invesco India Multicap Fund(G) 48.08 5.58DSP Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 48.28 5.48DSP US Flexible Equity Fund-Reg(G) 25.73 5.47BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund(G) 46.71 5.44IDFC Multi Cap Fund-Reg(G) 94.08 5.44BNP Paribas Focused 25 Equity 9.62 5.33Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-II-Reg(G) 13.81 5.33Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 7(G) 10.51 5.29Parag Parikh Long Term Equity 25.79 5.26Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G) 10.63 5.25Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 27.11 5.17Edelweiss Large Cap Fund(G) 35.57 5.11ICICI Pru Global Stable Equity 15.86 5.10Fund(FOF)(G)SBI Technology Opp Fund-Reg(G) 67.47 5.03DSP Equity Opportunities 221.51 5.00Fund-Reg(G)PGIM India Diversified Equity 13.39 4.94Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru LT Wealth Enhancement 10.75 4.88Fund(G)ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.91 4.80Fund-5-(G)DSP 3Y Close Ended Equity 15.58 4.77Fund-Reg(G)DSP A.C.E. Fund-Sr 1-Reg(G) 10.37 4.75Invesco India Growth Opp Fund(G) 34.60 4.72L&T India Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 26.96 4.70SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G) 15.25 4.65SBI Large & Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 222.40 4.62JM Value Fund(G) 32.03 4.56Baroda Large Cap Fund(G) 14.43 4.49UTI LT Equity Fund (Tax 88.20 4.42Saving)-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-18(G) 11.38 4.31Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 17.61 4.29Edelweiss Emerging Markets Opp 13.24 4.24Eq. Offshore Fund-Reg(G)L&T Emerging Opp Fund-I-Reg(D) 9.61 4.21PGIM India Large Cap Fund(G) 165.18 4.15IDBI Diversified Equity Fund(G) 21.10 4.09UTI Value Opp Fund-Reg(G) 61.33 3.96IDFC Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 32.39 3.95Aditya Birla SL Digital India Fund(G) 55.72 3.90Edelweiss Long Term Equity Fund 46.26 3.89(Tax Savings)-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 48.37 3.87L&T Large and Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 46.70 3.83

Kotak Bluechip Fund(G) 232.73 3.82Aditya Birla SL Focused Equity 58.95 3.77Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Sensex ETF 351.78 3.74Tata Resources & Energy Fund-Reg(G) 14.19 3.72HDFC Sensex ETF 3958.80 3.68IDFC Sensex ETF 388.61 3.59Kotak Standard Multicap Fund(G) 34.88 3.58L&T Business Cycle Fund-Reg(G) 15.04 3.55Tata Ethical Fund-Reg(G) 159.61 3.44UTI Mastershare-Reg(G) 121.52 3.42Invesco India Largecap Fund(G) 28.54 3.33Motilal Oswal Multicap 35 25.73 3.31Fund-Reg(G)Tata India Tax Savings Fund-Reg(G) 17.85 3.26Tata Index Fund-Sensex Plan(G) 92.87 3.25HDFC Index Fund-Sensex(G) 334.07 3.19IDBI Banking & Financial Services 10.24 3.12Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Sensex Index Fund(G) 11.69 3.06Baroda Multi Cap Fund(G) 96.72 3.00Tata Value Fund-Sr-2-Reg(G) 9.45 3.00Edelweiss Multi-Cap Fund-Reg(G) 14.41 2.99Sundaram Rural and Consumption 41.80 2.96Fund(G)SBI LT Advantage Fund-I-Reg(G) 13.12 2.83Aditya Birla SL Equity Fund(G) 719.16 2.70SBI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 14.59 2.67Tata Value Fund-Sr-1-Reg(G) 9.73 2.64Nippon India Index Fund - 18.48 2.61Sensex Plan(G)ICICI Pru Growth Fund-2(DP) 11.82 2.60Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 5(G) 9.58 2.58UTI Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 100.58 2.52Aditya Birla SL Banking & Financial 27.94 2.42Services Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(ELSS 31.40 2.31U/S 80C of IT ACT)(G)Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(G) 31.40 2.31Kotak India EQ Contra Fund(G) 51.72 2.27SBI Magnum Comma Fund-Reg(G) 35.19 2.19Tata Large Cap Fund(G) 212.43 2.10DSP World Agriculture Fund-Reg(G) 16.49 2.05PGIM India Large Cap Fund-2-Reg(G) 12.20 2.03Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 49.87 1.96Tata India Consumer Fund-Reg(G) 17.37 1.90SBI BlueChip Fund-Reg(G) 38.03 1.86JM Core 11 Fund(G) 9.03 1.85Sundaram Global Brand Fund(G) 17.22 1.79Invesco India Contra Fund(G) 47.24 1.55UTI MNC Fund-Reg(G) 195.13 1.37Edelweiss Eur Dynamic Equity 10.89 1.31Off-shr Fund-Reg(G)L&T Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 131.30 1.28ICICI Pru FMCG Fund(G) 235.90 1.25Nippon India Quant Fund(G) 25.06 1.16Invesco India Feeder - Invesco Global 12.68 1.15Equity Income Fund(G)IDFC Equity Opportunity-5-Reg(G) 9.74 1.14Edelweiss ETF - Nifty Bank 2832.32 1.10JM Large Cap Fund(G) 65.77 0.99ICICI Pru Value Fund-14(G) 10.26 0.88DSP Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 54.35 0.88Mirae Asset Nifty 50 ETF 111.59 0.84UTI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 50.56 0.79Tata Nifty ETF 111.46 0.74Sundaram Mid Cap Fund(G) 456.86 0.74Nippon India Vision Fund(G) 505.47 0.67Axis Nifty ETF 1134.83 0.64HDFC Nifty 50 ETF 1154.83 0.61IDFC Nifty ETF 113.93 0.59ICICI Pru Value Fund-16(G) 10.66 0.57Tata Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 10.34 0.48ICICI Pru Banking & Fin Serv 61.54 0.47Fund(G)UTI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 72.21 0.46Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 11.60 0.43Fund-2-Reg(G)L&T Tax Advt Fund-Reg(G) 51.85 0.40Tata Digital India Fund-Reg(G) 15.16 0.38IDFC Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 43.48 0.30Baroda Mid-cap Fund(G) 8.86 0.23Tata Index Fund-Nifty Plan(G) 66.72 0.20HDFC Index Fund-NIFTY 50 Plan(G) 100.42 0.20IDFC Nifty Fund-Reg(G) 22.81 0.14DSP NIFTY 50 Index Fund-Reg(G) 10.25 0.13ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.08 0.10Fund-1-(G)ICICI Pru Nifty Index Fund(G) 106.57 0.10Principal Dividend Yield Fund(G) 51.82 0.04Nippon India Capital Builder 9.49 -0.03Fund-IV-A(G)Baroda ELSS 96(G) 42.64 -0.07UTI MEPUS 104.38 -0.19Sundaram Emerging Small 10.68 -0.22Cap-Sr-VI-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 71.51 -0.24SBI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 94.46 -0.24Aditya Birla SL Index Fund-Reg(G) 107.90 -0.25ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 10.14 -0.29Fund-3-(G)Principal Multi Cap Growth Fund(G) 136.97 -0.30IDBI Nifty Index Fund(G) 20.27 -0.38Canara Rob Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 10.17 -0.39Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 14.21 -0.40II-Reg(G)Franklin India Index Fund-NSE 87.04 -0.42Nifty(G)Nippon India Index Fund - Nifty 18.38 -0.42Plan(G)

Nippon India Large Cap Fund(G) 31.81 -5.34Franklin India Bluechip Fund(G) 427.74 -5.42UTI Banking and Financial 88.78 -5.52Services Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Equity Fund(G) 543.37 -5.79Sundaram Small Cap Fund(G) 75.60 -5.93Franklin India Equity Advantage 72.71 -6.06Fund(G)ICICI Pru Bharat Consumption 9.19 -6.13Fund-2-(G)Templeton India Equity Income 43.07 -6.29Fund(G)Nippon India Multi Cap Fund(G) 89.08 -6.48Nippon India India Opp Fund-Sr-A(G) 9.74 -6.48Invesco India Feeder - Invesco 9.97 -6.64Pan European Equity Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Focused Equity Fund(G) 27.10 -7.22Nippon India Power & Infra Fund(G) 87.56 -7.25SBI PSU Fund-Reg(G) 9.06 -7.32ICICI Pru Value Fund-15(G) 9.74 -7.33UTI Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 55.82 -7.39HDFC Top 100 Fund(G) 435.71 -7.58UTI LT Adv Fund-III(G) 12.41 -7.75ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund(G) 129.95 -7.78HDFC Equity Fund(G) 588.00 -7.79Principal Nifty 100 Equal Weight 64.94 -7.82Fund(G)L&T Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 14.21 -7.85UTI LT Adv Fund-VII(G) 8.20 -8.15Sundaram Smart NIFTY 100 Eq 10.68 -8.34Weight Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-V(G) 8.63 -8.36Sundaram LT Tax Adv 8.97 -8.71Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-IV(G) 9.34 -8.83Franklin Build India Fund(G) 36.52 -8.83ICICI Pru Manufacture in India 9.23 -9.15Fund(G)Sundaram LT Tax Adv 7.69 -9.16Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)HDFC TaxSaver(G) 454.17 -9.29HDFC Equity Opp Fund-Sr 9.25 -9.502-1126D-May 2017(1)-Reg(G)HDFC Focused 30 Fund(G) 67.51 -9.53Franklin India Smaller Cos Fund(G) 47.53 -9.77Sundaram Value Fund-VIII-Reg(G) 9.82 -9.79SBI-ETF Sensex Next 50 294.58 -9.81SBI Contra Fund-Reg(G) 95.79 -9.82ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund(G) 43.79 -9.88Nippon India Capital Builder 6.87 -9.89Fund-IV-B(G)DSP Equal Nifty 50 Fund-Reg(G) 8.81 -9.94UTI LT Adv Fund-VI(G) 7.82 -10.01Aditya Birla SL Infrastructure Fund(G) 27.82 -10.08Nippon India Capital Builder 7.08 -10.19Fund-IV-D(G)IDFC Sterling Value Fund-Reg(G) 44.76 -10.48HDFC Capital Builder Value Fund(G) 256.02 -10.48DSP World Energy Fund-Reg(G) 11.76 -10.54Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 12.02 -10.95VIII-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 11.96 -10.98IX-Reg(G)Sundaram Value Fund-IX-Reg(G) 8.22 -10.98Sundaram Value Fund-X-Reg(G) 8.18 -11.01Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 7.33 -11.26Fund-7-Reg(G)Nippon India Tax Saver (ELSS) 47.54 -11.27Fund(G)ICICI Pru India Opp Fund(G) 9.18 -11.48Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 7.86 -11.90XIV-Reg(G)L&T Emerging Businesses 21.37 -12.15Fund-Reg(G)Nippon India Capital Builder 6.79 -12.20Fund-IV-C(G)IDFC Equity Opportunity-4-Reg(G) 6.63 -12.42Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 8.87 -12.58XI-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 8.53 -12.71Cap-Series XII-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 11.63 -12.82Cap-Series X-Reg(G)Sundaram Value Fund-VII-Reg(G) 7.63 -12.86ICICI Pru Dividend Yield Equity 14.01 -13.14Fund(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 7.14 -13.55XVI-Reg(G)IDFC Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 12.44 -13.61Sundaram Select Micro 7.57 -13.75Cap-Series XV-Reg(G)Templeton India Value Fund(G) 213.76 -13.82Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax 7.46 -13.96Adv Fund-Sr V-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax 7.60 -14.17Adv Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro Cap-Series 6.68 -14.69XVII-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Small Cap Fund(G) 29.11 -14.83HDFC Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 36.43 -14.85Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax Adv 8.89 -15.05Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax 6.88 -15.40Adv Fund-Sr VI-Reg(G)UTI Transportation & Logistics 80.06 -16.97Fund-Reg(G)DSP Natural Res & New Energy 26.29 -17.04Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Pure Value Fund(G) 41.76 -17.08HDFC Infrastructure Fund(G) 12.57 -22.85

ICICI Pru Value Fund-8(D) 10.21 -0.58ICICI Pru Growth Fund-1(DP) 10.71 -0.65Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity Fund-B(G) 17.83 -0.71ICICI Pru S&P BSE 500 ETF 146.62 -0.72IDBI Focused 30 Equity Fund-Reg(G) 9.62 -0.72ICICI Pru Exports & Services Fund(G) 54.33 -0.73Sundaram Value Fund-III-Reg(G) 16.12 -0.86Canara Rob Infrastructure 42.58 -0.86Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Nifty Low Vol 30 ETF 86.91 -0.89Nippon India ETF Nifty Midcap 150 61.47 -1.03HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities 52.59 -1.11Fund(G)ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund(G) 40.27 -1.15Franklin India Prima Fund(G) 917.45 -1.16PGIM India LT Equity Fund-Reg(G) 13.50 -1.17Nippon India Value Fund(G) 69.98 -1.17Edelweiss ETF - Nifty 100 Quality 30 272.99 -1.21SBI Consumption Opp Fund-Reg(G) 112.32 -1.28ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund (Tax 356.32 -1.39Saving)(G)Aditya Birla SL Frontline Equity 213.16 -1.39Fund(G)L&T Equity Fund-Reg(G) 77.74 -1.45Sundaram Diversified Equity(G) 95.73 -1.75L&T India Value Fund-Reg(G) 33.79 -1.78ICICI Pru Large & Mid Cap Fund(G) 305.42 -1.83ICICI Pru Growth Fund-3(DP) 9.93 -1.88ICICI Pru Value Fund-17(G) 10.02 -1.96Sundaram Emerging Small 9.36 -2.03Cap-Sr-IV-Reg(G)IDBI Midcap Fund(G) 10.42 -2.16Sundaram LT Tax Adv Fund-Sr 12.95 -2.38I-Reg(G)IDBI Long Term Value Fund-Reg(G) 9.92 -2.46Tata Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 51.38 -2.49Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 9.35 -2.91Fund-4-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 9.22 -2.95Fund-5-Reg(G)Franklin India Focused Equity 37.84 -2.96Fund(G)Nippon India Small Cap Fund(G) 38.08 -3.08

Aditya Birla SL Mfg. Equity 12.35 -3.14Fund-Reg(G)UTI-Nifty Next 50 ETF 271.09 -3.14Sundaram Emerging Small 8.93 -3.27Cap-Sr-III-Reg(G)Nippon India Focused Equity Fund(G) 43.43 -3.35Aditya Birla SL Nifty Next 50 ETF 265.66 -3.43Kotak India Growth Fund-Sr 4(G) 8.86 -3.51Aditya Birla SL Resurgent India 11.16 -3.54Fund-3-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Dividend Yield 151.04 -3.57Fund(G)DSP World Mining Fund-Reg(G) 8.13 -3.66Principal Tax Savings Fund 193.36 -3.74Nippon India Banking Fund(G) 253.21 -3.81Kotak Infra & Eco Reform Fund(G) 18.41 -3.89ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 ETF 26.58 -3.94ICICI Pru NV20 ETF 53.49 -3.95UTI Nifty Next 50 Index Fund-Reg(G) 9.38 -3.99SBI Long Term Equity Fund-Reg(G) 133.46 -4.09Principal Personal Tax saver Fund 180.54 -4.19DSP India T.I.G.E.R Fund-Reg(G) 82.80 -4.19ICICI Pru Technology Fund(G) 57.44 -4.22Sundaram Emerging Small 9.40 -4.29Cap-Sr-V-Reg(G)DSP NIFTY Next 50 Index 10.17 -4.29Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Taxshield(G) 524.17 -4.32ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 Index 23.31 -4.40Fund(G)IDBI Nifty Junior Index Fund(G) 19.85 -4.49UTI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G) 61.39 -4.51Tata Equity P/E Fund(G) 124.27 -4.53Sundaram Emerging Small 7.94 -4.55Cap-Sr-I-Reg(G)HDFC Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G) 103.63 -4.57ICICI Pru Value Fund-13(D) 9.70 -4.62Sundaram Infra Advantage Fund(G) 29.71 -4.64Aditya Birla SL CEF-Global 21.64 -4.65Agri-Reg(G)Sundaram Emerging Small 8.17 -4.66Cap-Sr-II-Reg(G)IDBI Small Cap Fund(G) 8.87 -4.73IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) Fund-Reg(G) 51.39 -5.03ICICI Pru Multicap Fund(G) 270.77 -5.08ICICI Pru Midcap Fund(G) 87.84 -5.14Franklin India Opportunities Fund(G) 67.66 -5.17Aditya Birla SL Midcap Fund(G) 265.55 -5.19

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Tehran: Iran’s health ministryon Sunday reported 49 newdeaths from the novel coron-avirus, the highest toll within24 hours since the start of theoutbreak in the country.

“At least 194 of our com-patriots who fell sick with theCOVID-19 illness have passedaway,” health ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour said in a televisednews conference.

The outbreak of the virusin Iran is one of the deadliestoutside of China, where thedisease originated.

Jahanpour added that 743new infections were also con-firmed within the past 24hours, bringing the number ofcases to 6,566 spread across allof Iran’s 31 provinces.

With 1,805 infections, thecapital Tehran remains theprovince with the most cases,the spokesman added.

But the situation in otherprovinces continued to dete-riorate, with Jahanpour saying685 cases were detected in andaround Qom, the holy Shiitecity south of Tehran where thecountry’s first cases werereported.

He said the number ofcases was also “rising quickly”in Isfahan, a popular touristdestination, where there werenow 564 people sick with thevirus.

No official widescale quar-antine measures have beenenforced but several provinceshave announced they wouldnot provide lodging fortourists in an effort to dissuadetravel. AFP

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Saudi authorities have cor-doned off eastern Qatif

region, a stronghold of thekingdom’s Shiite minority, in abid to contain the fast-spread-ing coronavirus, the interiorministry said Sunday.

“Given that all 11 record-ed positive cases of the newcoronavirus are from Qatif... Ithas been decided... To tem-porarily suspend entry andexit from Qatif,” the ministrysaid in a statement carried bythe official Saudi Press Agency.

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Sunday confirmed its firstthree cases of coronavirus inthe country, according to amedia report.

The affected— two menand a woman— were foundpositive for the coronavirusinfection on Saturday, theDhaka Tribune reported.

“Among them, two of thevictims had recently returnedfrom Italy while the other is arelative of one of the returnees,”Meerjady Sabrina Flora, thedirector of Institue ofEpidemiology, Disease Controland Research, said. PTI

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Seoul: North Korea hasreleased more than 3,600 peo-ple quarantined over the newcoronavirus, reports saidSunday, as the disease spreadto 95 countries with over100,000 cases worldwide.

Pyongyang has imposedstrict restrictions and closed itsborders to try to prevent anoutbreak — and insists it hasnot had a single case ofCOVID-19.

Around 3,650 peoplequarantined in Kangwon andChagang provinces werereleased as of Thursday, North

Korea’s state radio reportedaccording to Yonhap newsagency.

It follows official KCNAnews agency stating onFriday 221 out of 380 for-eigners who were under“strict medical monitoring”had been discharged fromisolation.

North Korean leader KimJong Un warned last month of“serious consequences” if thevirus reaches his country,which has banned touristsand suspended internationaltrains and flights. AFP

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Beijing: Ten people were killedafter a hotel used as a quarantinefacility amid the coronavirusoutbreak collapsed in south eastChina’s Fujian province, officialmedia reported on Sunday.

Around 71 people weretrapped in the hotel that col-lapsed on Saturday in Quanzhoucity of the province, state-runXinhua news agency reported.

The hotel was used to quar-antine and observe people whohad come to the province dur-ing the novel coronavirus pre-vention and control and hadcome in contact with the virus

patients. “Death toll has risen to10, rescue work continues forremained 23 trapped people,”state-run People’s Daily tweeted.Meanwhile, the victims in thecollapse tested negative in nucle-ic acid test, it said.

The Xinjia hotel, located inLicheng district of the city, wasin operation since 2018 and had80 rooms. A preliminary inves-tigation showed that the hotelwas being decorated when theincident happened and theowner of the building has beenput under police control, theXinhua report said. PTI

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Washington: A man in his 50s tested positivefor coronavirus — the first presumptively con-firmed case in the nation’s capital — andanother person who travelled through the cityhas also tested positive in Maryland, officialssaid.

District of Columbia Mayor MurielBowser said Saturday the man in the initialcase started exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 in late February. He was admitted to aWashington hospital on Thursday andappeared to have no history of internationaltravel and no close contacts to any other con-firmed cases across the US, Bowser said. “Withhis test yielding presumptive positive, DC.Health has started its investigation in keep-ing with CDC guidelines,” Bowser said. AP

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Rome: Italy announced a sweeping quar-antine early Sunday for its northernregions, igniting travel chaos as it restrict-ed the movements of a quarter of its peo-ple in a bid to halt the new coronavirus’relentless march across Europe.

Shortly after midnight, Italian PrimeMinister Giuseppe Conte signed a decreeaffecting 16 million people in the coun-try’s prosperous north, including theLombardy region and at least 14 provincesin neighbouring regions. The extraordi-nary measures will be in place until April3.

“For Lombardy and for the othernorthern provinces that I have listed, therewill be a ban for everybody to move in and

out of these territories and also within thesame territory,” Conte said.

“Exceptions will be allowed only forproven professional needs, exceptionalcases and health issues.”

Around the world, other countrieshave been increasingly imitating China –where the virus first emerged late last year— by imposing travel controls and shut-ting down public events. China has suf-fered about three-fourths of the world’s106,000 coronavirus infections and mostof its nearly 3,600 deaths.

There was chaos and confusion in thehours before Conte signed the decree, asword leaked to the news media about theplanned quarantine. AP

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Italy's death toll from thenew coronavirus shot up by

133 to 366 on Sunday whilethe number of infections roseby a single-day record of 1,492to hit 7,375.

Italy has recorded themost deaths of any countryoutside China and the second-most COVID-19 infections inthe world. The majority of thedeaths were in the Lombardyregion in northern Italy, thecivil protection agency said.

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St. Louis: Joe Biden and BernieSanders on Saturday beganwhat amounts to a fresh cam-paign for the Democratic nom-ination for president, as theseptuagenarians prepare to gohead-to-head at the polls forthe first time since the fieldnarrowed to two credible can-didates.

Biden, the 77-year-old for-mer vice president, spoke to alarge crowd of supporters inMissouri, one of six states thatwill hold Democratic primarieson Tuesday, one week after the“Super Tuesday” electionsbrought about a dramaticreversal of fortunes in hisfavor.

Standing on an outdoorstage on a sunny day in StLouis, at times wearing his sig-nature aviator sunglasses, thepolitically moderate Bidensavored his spectacular revivalin the race for the WhiteHouse.

“What a difference a daymakes,” he exulted. “This timelast week I was in SouthCarolina and the press and thepundits had declared Biden’scampaign dead.” “But SouthCarolina had something tosay about that, and then cameSuper Tuesday.

And today there are 11 vic-tories behind us and we’releading both in delegates andnational votes.” With the mon-umental Gateway Arch -- asymbolic entryway to theAmerican West -- in the back-ground, the former vice pres-ident mentioned Sanders onlyindirectly.

Biden, having gained keybacking from erstwhile rivalsPete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar

and Michael Bloomberg, saidhe was best positioned to“unite this party,” promisingnot to turn “this primary intoa campaign of negativeattacks.” “That will only re-elect Donald Trump if we gothat route,” he said. Sanders,speaking to an equally enthu-siastic crowd in Chicago,underlined his differences withBiden, without directly attack-ing him.

“Joe Biden is a friend,” hesaid. “I have known him formany years. But we haverecords, we have a differentvision. The American peoplewill hear about it.” With theprimary now “down to twopeople,” the progressiveVermont senator said, “it isimportant for the Americanpeople to understand the dif-ferences between us -- in termsof our record, in terms of ourvision for the future.” Sanders is a democratic social-ist who wears his uncompro-mising positions -- govern-ment-run health care for all,higher taxes on the wealthy

and free university tuition --proudly on his sleeve.

Biden is a centrist whoprides himself on his ability towork with Republicans. He ismore middle-of-the-road onkey issues like health care,where he favors expandingexisting insurance programs,and less punitive additionaltaxes on the wealthy.

In addition to Missouri,Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi,North Dakota and Washingtonwill hold Democratic primarieson Tuesday.

The state of Illinois, whereSanders was speaking, does nothold its primary until March17.

That falls two days afterthe next Democratic debate, tobe held in Phoenix, Arizona.

Hawaii congresswomanTulsi Gabbard is still onDemocratic ballots, but trailsso badly that she has not qual-ified for the debate.

That would leave Sandersand Biden in their first head-to-head encounter of the longcampaign season. AFP

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Washington: Indian-originCalifornia Senator KamalaHarris on Sunday endorsed JoeBiden for president, assertingthat there is no one better pre-pared than him to steer Americathrough “turbulent times” andshe would do “everything” inher power to help elect the for-mer US vice-president.

In less than a week, Harrison Sunday became the fourthDemocratic presidential aspi-rant to support 77-year-oldBiden in his third bid at theWhite House.

The three others beingSenator Amy Klobucher, formerMayor from Indiana PeteButtigieg, and former New YorkMayor Michael Bloomberg.

“There is no one betterprepared than Joe to steer ournation through these turbulenttimes, and restore truth, honour,and decency to the Oval Office,”Harris said in a statement.

“I believe in Joe Biden andwill do everything in mypower to help elect him thenext president of the UnitedStates,” she said. The CaliforniaSenator had dropped out ofthe Democratic presidentialrace even before the start ofthe primaries.

She had made an impressiveperformance against Biden dur-ing the first Democratic partypresidential debate last summer.However, she could not keep upthe momentum and her pollnumbers started dropping.

Biden is kind and endless-ly caring, and truly listens to theAmerican people, Harris said.

“You can see in his eyeshow he takes to heart the expe-riences of mothers and fathersworking to make ends meet andworrying about whether theirchildren can be safe in theirclassroom, or young peoplewho fight tirelessly to tackle cli-mate change as they ask for afair shot at the future in frontof them. And with a lifetime inpublic service, Joe has a proventrack record of getting thingsdone,” she said.

Widely being speculatedas a potential vice presidentialcandidate, Harris said that theUS was at an inflection pointand the decision voters makethis November will shape thecountry and the world “ourchildren and grandchildren willgrow up in”.

Biden has said he wouldlike to have a woman as his run-ning mate. However, he has notgiven any indication who thatwoman would be.

“Like many women, Iwatched with sadness aswomen exited the race one byone. Four years after our nom-inee, the first woman to win thenomination of a major party,received 3 million more votesthan Donald Trump but stilllost, we find ourselves withoutany woman on a path to be theDemocratic nominee for pres-ident,” Harris said. PTI

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Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s KingSalman was shown in statemedia on Sunday in apparentgood health and working, justdays after the arrest of twosenior princes triggered specu-lation about a possible coupattempt or a sudden deteriora-tion in the king’s health.

Two people close to theroyal family said Saturday thatthe two princes were underarrest for not supporting CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman,who has consolidated control ofall major levers of power insidethe kingdom with the supportof his father, King Salman.

The arrests of the king’syounger and beloved brother,Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz,and the king’s nephew and for-

mer counterterrorism czar,Prince Mohammed bin Nayef,came after what one person inSaudi Arabia with knowledge ofthe arrests described as anaccumulation of behaviour thatwas provocative to leadership.

The source added that thearrests sent a message to any-one in the royal family feelingdisenfranchised: Stop grum-bling and toe the line, becauseif Prince Ahmed can be arrest-ed, any prince can and will be.Prince Ahmed was seen as aperson who royals could look towhen feeling vexed with thecrown prince’s grip on power,the person said.

The reports of a crack-down emerged early Friday. Inthe king’s first appearance since

then, state media showed the84-year-old king on Sundaystanding and greeting two Saudidiplomats being sworn in asambassadors. He was previouslyseen Thursday meeting withBritish Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab in Riyadh.

The arrests came as a sur-prise, given that PrinceMohammed bin Nayef, 60, waswidely known to be underclose surveillance since he wasshunted out of the line of suc-cession by the king’s son in mid-2017, a person close to the royalcourt said. The arrest of PrinceAhmed, 78, was also unex-pected since he is the king’s fullyounger brother and also asenior member of the ruling AlSaud family. AP

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Asenior Al-Shabaab com-mander was killed in a

recent US air strike in Somalia,the director of US AfricanCommand (Africom) saidSunday.

“Bashir MohamedMahamoud was a senior oper-ational leader responsible forexporting terror in Somalia aswell as attacks into Kenya,” saidAfricom director ColonelChristopher Karns.

“He has been a senior al-Shabaab member for morethan a decade.”

Bashir was killed in aFebruary 22 airstrike, saidKarns, describing him as an“individual (who) had a role inplanning and directing terror-ist operations in Somalia andon the Kenya border region”.

Bashir also was suspectedof having had a role in aJanuary attack on a US-Kenyanmilitary base in southeastern

Kenya in which threeAmericans were killed, headded.

General Roger Cloutier,commander of US land forcesin Africa, recently declared al-Shabaab to be “one of thebiggest threats on the conti-nent”.

Some analysts have ques-tioned the effectiveness of theUS campaign in Africa.

Amnesty Internationalsaid in a 2019 report that USair strikes sometimes hit civil-ians as well as Shebab fighters,killing farmers, workers andchildren.

The US military has gen-erally denied the charge,though it did admit responsi-bility for civilian casualties inone attack that killed a womanand a child near the centraltown of El Buur in April 2018.

Colonel Karns describedal-Shabaab as “the largest andmost kinetically active al-Qaedanetwork in the world”.

Islamabad: Hundreds ofwomen in various cities ofPakistan on Sunday participat-ed in protests to mark theInternational Women’s Day anddemanded equal rights and bet-ter opportunities for them in thecountry.

The protests, which wereheld under the banner of ‘AuratMarch’, was also attended bychildren, men, and transgendersin various cities, includingKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad,Multan and Queta.

In Karachi, protests wereheld outside the Frere Hall, theKarachi Press Club and TeenTalwar. Similar protests were alsoorganised in other cities ofSindh province, includingKhairpur, Shikarpur, Sukkurand Nangarparkar.

In Lahore, the protesterscarrying placards gathered at theLahore Press Club and marchedthrough Egerton Road to cul-minate at Aiwan-e-Iqbal. PTI

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Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan): Policein Kyrgyzstan on Sundayarrested dozens of protesters —most of them women — at arally to mark InternationalWomen’s Day after maskedmen attacked them and tore uptheir placards.

An AFP correspondentsaw dozens of women detainedand placed in police vehicles inthe centre of the capitalBishkek where women’s groupshad begun to rally againstgender-based violence.

The detentions came afterthe men wearing face masksand pointed national hatsattacked the crowd, tearingup their posters, popping bal-loons with toy pistols andthrowing eggs at the womenbefore fleeing the scene.

Erlan Atantayev, deputyhead of the Sverdlovsky policedepartment where the womenwere taken, told AFP that theprotesters had been detained

for their own safety andbecause police had not beenwarned about the rally.

“Clashes began betweenthe demonstrators and menwearing the face masks,” saidAtantayev.

“We detained (the women)for violation of public order.”Atantayev said that some of thedemonstrators could face finesfor resisting police.

Police also detained threemale assailants but did notchase after those who ranaway.

Journalist NurjamalDjanibekova said that one ofthe attackers broke her tele-phone to prevent her filmingthe attack.

Djanibekova said 70 peo-ple were being held in theSverdlovsky police station.Atantayey told AFP policewere carrying out “explanato-ry work” with the detainedprotesters. AFP

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Peshawar: At least 23 peoplehave been killed and 54 injuredin rain-related incidents inPakistan’s northern KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KPK) provincein the last five days, officialssaid on Sunday.

Provincial DisasterManagement Authority(PDMA) officials said 13 hous-es were fully damaged while114 houses were partially dam-aged in the recent rains andthunderstorms.

Casualties were reported inSwat, Mardan and Charsaddadistricts of KPK, mostly inroof-collapse incidents.

Following special direc-tives of KPK Chief MinisterMahmood Khan, relief mate-rials were distributed amongthe affected, The Dawn Newsreported. Rescue, relief andrehabilitation activities weretaken up in affected districts ofthe province, officials said. PTI

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Ankara: Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan said hewill hold talks in Brussels onMonday as he called on Greeceto “open the gates” formigrants at Turkey’s bordertrying to get to Europe.

“I will have a meetingwith European Union offi-cials tomorrow (Monday) inBelgium,” Erdogan said duringa speech in Istanbul onSunday.

He added he would dis-cuss the migration issue afterTurkey opened its borders.

“I hope I will return fromBelgium with different out-comes.” Turkey repeatedly railsagainst what it describes asunfair burden-sharing, sincearound four million mostlySyrian refugees live in Turkey.

In 2016, Turkey and the

EU agreed a deal in whichBrussels would provide bil-lions of euros in aid inexchange for Turkish author-ities preventing the flow ofmigrants.

But Ankara has repeated-ly accused the bloc of not ful-filling promises made asEurope suffered the worstrefugee crisis since the SecondWorld War.

Over a million people fledto the continent in 2015.

Erdogan’s top press aideFahrettin Altun has said one ofthe unmet conditions was thatthe EU would take in refugeesfrom Turkey.

During the same televisedspeech, Erdogan urged Greeceto open its border after clashesin recent days between migrantsand Greek police. AFP

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Page 13: 4`c`_R eYcZgVd Z_

A17-year-old school girlstruggles with the TVremote and flips through

channels in the corner of a hall,which is shared by a few otherwomen — each one distinct fromthe other. Three oldMaharashtrian women peel veg-etables while a woman in a burqawaxes her legs quietly on the floor.Another woman in her mid 20s,wearing a shiny jacket apt for aparty, pours herself another glassof vodka and gulps it down in oneswig. Next to her is her friend whoseems to have just returned froma high-profile corporate meetingin her office. At the other end ofthe hall, a young student,engrossed in her studies, sits at thedining table wearing her white labcoat, certainly prepping for amedical exam. A woman in sariemerges with a pooja ki thaal andserves prasad to everyone in theroom. While each personalitylooks different from one another,they all have one thing in com-mon — they have been assaulted.And they are dead within.

This is what director PriyankaBanerjee’s 13-minute short filmDevi brings to the fore. It brilliant-ly brings women from differentwalks of life, age, communityand class together and points outthat when it comes to crimesagainst women, no one is spared.The director, by placing themunder one roof and making thesewomen confront the differences,points out yet again that none ofthese matter. The film finallyconveys to the audience a simplemessage — what it is like to be awoman?

�How did you conceptualisethe film?

I’ve been a student of theatresince I was 17. Hence, I’ve alwaysbeen involved in playwriting. I amdrawn to some kind of surrealismor the absurd mixed into a real-istic situation. Jean Paul Sartre’splay, No Exit, is one of those clas-sics that every theatre kid knowsand I think the idea of deceasedpeople discussing their lives in apurgatory state was inspired fromthat. I also remember an illustra-tion showing two rape victimschatting in heaven. I rememberthinking then that it might be aninteresting idea to see what agroup of women, who have shareda similar fate, would say to eachother if we kept them incrediblyhuman and realistic. The ideaemerged from this line of think-ing.

�How did you conceptualisesuch an idea of putting womenfrom different social strata in thesame room? The film showcas-es how women need to live in

communal harmony and haveeach other’s back at all costs...

I tried penning the charactersI had seen around me. I’ve beenaround working women my entirelife. My mother has always worked.I’ve seen my house-helps and thebackgrounds they come from too.When you go to a salon, the fishmarket or a hospital, these womenare all around us. The diversity was-n’t as intentional as it was natural.It just happened while I was writ-ing. I’ll credit my theatre back-ground once again here becauseyou tend to act out parts as you’rewriting and that helps give a realvoice to each character. The bick-ering, debates and more comefrom that.

�What is your take on how suchfilms are able to bring about achange in society?

Especially in India, where film-stars are seen as close to deities,films have a great social impact, too.I would still use the word impactbecause it is unfair to expect art orfilms to change society or the waypeople think. We can offer food for

thought but the real change is a longdrawn out process involving manyother ground realities.

�Also, how do you think societyis reacting to content-driven andrealistic films, which are now thetrend?

I think it’s incredible that nowcontent is the true king. It’s not justa phrase thrown around for effect.Given the recent success of so manycontent-driven, realistic films,where the power lies in the script,it’s evident that the audience is

reacting very well to honest story-telling.

�There have been many films thattalk about sexual assault onwomen at length. How do youthink Devi is different?

I hope that the film is seen asdifferent because it doesn’t preacha message forcefully. We have triedour best to just present reality as itis and these women, as flesh-and-blood characters, have quirks andflaws just like the rest of us. I thinkthis film may be perceived differ-

ently because we have tried to makethe characters familiar. We wantedto make the pain of what happenedto them felt more deeply by theaudience.

�Why did you name it Devi?I would credit our producer

Niranjan Iyengar for this. We want-ed a single word title that wouldcapture the essence of the film. Thisimmediately clicked with everyonewhen he titled it. It’s because I guessthis word has such a subconscioussignificance for us and to think of

it in this context is very moving.

�Do you think a short film lim-its the creativity of a director? Hadit been a big screen film, howwould you have played it out?

Not at all! Short films do notlimit you in the least. It is a differ-ent genre altogether. It allows youto tell a story or say somethingcomplete in itself in a short periodof time (usually less than 45 min-utes). It’s a unique challenge and Idon’t think it should be confusedwith a mini feature film. Featureshave their own beauty because theyallow for a long drawn out explo-rations of the plot and the charac-ters. An audience can feel like theyhave lived a lifetime watching a fea-ture. Shorts, to me, are just aboutleaving someone with a feeling. Idon’t think Devi could have beena feature, at least not if I’m writingit because I wouldn’t know how tomake it like that. I feel the thoughtlends itself to this short format andthis makes the most impact onmaximum people.

(The film can be streamed onYouTube.)

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Humanoids or robots are innews for taking up certain

chores like in restaurants or ascleaners but researchers led by anIndian-origin scientist at theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) are now work-ing on robots that can learn newtasks solely by observing humans.

The team has designed a sys-tem that lets such types of robotslearn complicated tasks that wouldotherwise hinder them with toomany confusing rules.

One such task is setting a din-ner table under certain conditions.At its core, the system gives robotsthe human-like planning ability tosimultaneously weigh manyambiguous — and potentially con-tradictory — requirements to reachan end goal.

In their work, the researcherscompiled a dataset with informa-tion about how eight objects — amug, glass, spoon, fork, knife, din-ner plate, small plate, and bowl —could be placed on a table in var-ious configurations.

A robotic arm first observedrandomly selected human demon-strations of setting the table withthe objects. Then, the researcherstasked the arm with automaticallysetting a table in a specific config-uration, in real-world experimentsand in simulation, based on whatit had seen.

To succeed, the robot had toweigh many possible placement

orderings, even when items werepurposely removed, stacked, orhidden. Normally, all that wouldconfuse robots too much. But theresearchers’ robot made no mis-takes over several real-world exper-iments, and only a handful of mis-takes over tens of thousands of sim-ulated test runs.

“The vision is to put program-ming in the hands of domainexperts, who can programmerobots through intuitive ways,rather than describing orders to anengineer to add to their code,” saidfirst author Ankit Shah, a graduatestudent in the Department ofAeronautics and Astronautics(AeroAstro) and the InteractiveRobotics Group.

That way, robots won’t have toperform preprogrammed tasks any-more. “Factory workers can teacha robot to do multiple complexassembly tasks. Domestic robotscan learn how to stack cabinets,load the dishwasher, or set the tablefrom people at home,” Shah added.

Robots are fine planners intasks with clear “specifications,”which help describe the task therobot needs to fulfill, consideringits actions, environment, and endgoal.

The researchers’ system, calledPUnS (for Planning with UncertainSpecifications), enables a robot tohold a “belief ” over a range of pos-sible specifications. The belief itselfcan then be used to dish outrewards and penalties.

“The robot is essentially hedg-ing its bets in terms of what’s intend-ed in a task, and takes actions thatsatisfy its belief, instead of us givingit a clear specification," Shah noted.

The researchers hope to modi-fy the system to help robots changetheir behaviour based on verbalinstructions, corrections or a user’sassessment of the robot’s perfor-mance.

“Say a person demonstrates to arobot how to set a table at only onespot. The person may say, ‘do thesame thing for all other spots,’ or,‘place the knife before the fork hereinstead,’” Shah added.

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He insists that both narrativeand documentary filmmak-

ing have the same componentsand its just the retake that sep-arates them. "Well, they haveactors while we shoot real peo-ple. What is paramount is theskill to tell a story. Moreover, I’venever believed in this falsedivide, as the documentaries wemake tend to cross it frequent-ly. However, at this point of time,I feel its time for us to work ona narrative," says three-timeNational Award filmmakerNandan Saxena (along with hisfilmmaker wife Kavita Bahl),who is now all set to make a fea-ture film titled Mrigtrishna (TheMirage).

Saxena who already has aFrench producer and is lookingfor an Indian one, has signedHimanshu Joshi (of IndianOcean) for the lead characterand is now planning to approachAlia Bhatt with a bound scriptto play the character of a youngwoman who loses her husbandand goes to Vrindavan. “But thatplace imposes its own set ofrules which are very regiment-ed and claustrophobic. She findsherself in a glass menagerieand doesn’t know what to dowith her life anymore. Amidstwomen in white floating aroundlike ghosts in a timeless mist,can she find love, and moreimportantly herself?” he says.

And the film is the reasonthe couple shifted base fromDelhi where they had been liv-ing for more than 50 years, toMumbai. “Delhi just doesn’thave that kind of energy, ethosand culture. Out there, every-body is an island in himself.Despite so many of documen-tary filmmakers living in theCapital , we would meet onlyduring festivals organised inplaces like Goa, Dharamsalaand Mumbai. In Mumbai, we doan ‘addabazi’ of filmmakers,theatre artists, painters andmusicians at least twice a week,”he smiles.

Known for his documen-taries like I Cannot Give You MyForest, Candles in the Wind andCotton for My Shroud which heco-directed with Behl — all ofwhich won the National Award,the filmmakers recently com-pleted a character driven docu-mentary for Films Divisiontitled Laxman Rekha which cen-tres around Laxman Singh ofRajasthan, who has been instru-mental in charging the watertable of around 50 villagesbetween Jaipur and AjmerSharif. Singh floated the organ-isation eGramin VikasNavyuvak Mandal that encour-ages villagers to revive ponds inorder to recharge the watertable.

Saxena elaborates, “Thisfilm too has been entered for theNational Award. When Singhstarted doing it in his Lapodiavillage years ago, everyone tookhim for a fool. But after he andhis friends repaired the villagepond with help of some volun-teers, the dried up wells gotrecharged and the villagers wereable to cultivate two crops in ayear instead one. He then spreadthe movement to other villages.Interestingly, he got the idea

after reading Anupam Mishra’sbook Aaj Bhi Khare Hai Talab.”

With an oeuvre spanningdomains of ecology, livelihoods,development and poetry films,and despite multiple Nationalawards, funding still remains anissue. “Awards are recognitionthat you’re doing good work andthey make it easy for our filmsto travel. People don’t take pan-gas much, don’t stop screenings,as they know we have a Censorcertificate and a National Award.However, getting funds for adocumentary is a constantstruggle, and of course thencomes the lack of a distributionnetwork. Features still havecommercial model. All othercountries support documen-taries more than feature films. InIndia, people are yet to realisethat documentarians are chron-iclers of the times. If we don’tkeep the facts alive, then tomor-row, any narrative, far fromtruth will emerge and nobodywould be able to counter it.”

Mentioning how their filmsare distributed by unions,activists and farmers’ associationacross the country includingAndhra Pradesh, South Indiaand Punjab, and he asserts, “We

give them the prints to makecopies, and also allow them tokeep the money that comesfrom the sale. It is importantthat a large number of people getto know the ground situation.We have worked on the plight ofcotton farmers, issues of widowsof farmers who brought aboutthe green revolution, and thosewho committed suicide. In somany families, there are doubleand triple suicides. We walkedin villages in several districts ofPunjab and shot the plight ofsuicide survivors. Believe me,Kavita and I felt that we wouldbecome depression patients.”

Despite the OTT revolution.Saxena does not feel that theplatform is ready for the kind ofcontent they produce. “We didspeak to some senior at majorplatforms. They said they werefollowing our work, but neededtime. Frankly, what intereststhem at this point is travel andfood, and of course sensationaland racy documentaries pro-duced by some outlets. As far aspeople like us, who work onhuman rights are concerned,well... The government calls usanti-national and urban naxalswhile corporates feel we are outto destroy them,” he says.

While most governmentsin the west support documen-tary filmmakers considering,the filmmaker feels that in India,it makes sense not to expect any-thing.

“Here, we don’t have pride.Now look at China, which isinvesting heavily in art and cul-ture because they realise itspotential. After filmmakersShyam Benegal and AdoorGopalakrishnan, and criticAruna Vasudev praised ourwork at different forums, thePSBT approached us. We madea film with them forDoordarshan for which theygave us six lakhs, while it cost-ed us four times more. Do I saymore?”

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Isn’t it ironical that on one hand, people wor-ship goddesses, observe fasts during nine

days of Navratris and invoke Laxmi duringDiwali, while on the other, these very peopleindulge in barbaric acts of molesting girls and dis-honouring women?

One wonders how we have become sodeceitful? Well, a very simple answer to this liesin the terms — sexism and gender discrimina-tion. Yes, it’s a shame because even after invest-ing years in development and progress, society’spatriarchal attitude remains unchanged. Sincecenturies, theattitude that hasprevai led insociety is that awife is the prop-erty of her hus-band and there-fore, he can doanything withher, which hefinds appropri-ate. As a result,over a millen-nia, more thanone quarter ofwomen in manycountries havebeen subjectedto physicalabuse and alarge number ofthem have gonethrough thepain of emo-tional and psychological torture. In order to con-trol these atrocities and give women their basicright to live with dignity, a large number ofwomen’s organisations have come up in the last50 years or so.

As a result of their efforts, many countrieshave set up women’s commissions to legally helpthose who are suffering. There is no doubt thatall this has definitely benefitted some women butone needs to ponder deeply whether this wouldsolve the basic problem of gender discriminationand hence, crimes against women. Will greaterand active participation of women in social, polit-ical, financial, administrative, legislative and otherfields give us a peaceful society? Will awarenessabout their rights and teaching them self-defence techniques stop barbaric acts like rapeand eve teasing?

I am sure each one of you while reading thiswould answering the negative. Rightly so, becausedeep down we all realise quite well that the realproblem is rooted in the attitude and beliefs ofpeople, who think it is justified to controlwomen and their lives.

So how does one change this attitude andbehaviour? We need to first eradicate the con-cept of ‘abla naari’ (helpless woman) because theyhave been looked upon as weak and powerlesssince centuries. We need to remember that thingswould not change by merely giving womenauthority and making them incharge of somedepartment or corporation. The change will comeby building in them a sense of self-respect andself-confidence and emancipating them.

So all the men out there, let’s make a resolveto make women ‘sabla’ (empowered). Now, it’supto us whether we want a weak generation forthe future or an empowered one. Think over it.

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Once the summers start approach-ing, our immune system weak-ens slightly due to the change in

weather and the environment. Itbecomes very important to invest inbuilding your immunity during thistime. The ancient science of Ayurvedichealing can build a stronger immunesystem as we combat various strains ofair borne viruses like the Covid-19.

Here are a few powerful herbs pre-scribed in Ayurveda that can helpbuild your all round immunity.

AMRUT OR GILOYAmrut pacifies all three doshas

(forces that create the physical body),bio energies in the body and is there-fore, safe for everyone. An importantAyurvedic concept is the doshas thatrepresent the five great elements innature that make up the matter. Howthese doshas manifest in an individual,determines his/her unique physiologi-cal and mental constitution calledprakruti.

Giloy is one of the most powerfulimmunomodulators (medications usedto help regulate or normalise theimmune system), which is why it isimmensely useful in treating autoim-mune conditions. The root is known forits anti-stress, anti-leprotic and anti-malarial activities. It is known to be arich source of trace elements (zinc andcopper) that act as antioxidants and pro-tect cells from the damaging effects offree radicals.

One must continue ingesting theherb over a long period of time to seecumulative effects.

BASEL OR TULSIOne of India’s most virtuous herbs

has leapfrogged from adorning frontyards and delicate China cups to becom-ing one of the best medicinal herbs onthe planet. Known as the queen of herbsand the elixir of life, tulsi is a usefuladaptogen which are agents to help thebody cope with stress, enhance physi-cal and mental health and promotelongevity, too.

It is no surprise that tulsi also fea-tures as one of the main herbs that canhelp you build immunity. It has aunique combination of antioxidant,anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial andother actions that combine to help thebody adapt and cope with a wide rangeof infections. It works as an anti-inflammatory herb and promotes detox-ification. It can modulate the immunesystem and protect the liver from envi-ronmental toxins.

AMLAIn conversations around immunity-

building foods today, the home-grownamla is a major contender. The Indiangooseberry is a superfood that comespacked with a whole lot of nutrients.

It has high levels of Vitamin C, B-complex and carotene, along withmacronutrients such as protein and car-bohydrates. It is also rich in calcium,

iron, phosphorus and sodium. It is apowerful antioxidant that is effective inreducing cell damage and the free rad-icals that can cause diseases in the body.Also, amla doesn’t lose its propertieswhen processed, pulped or dried asmuch as other fruits do.

Consuming an amla a day in anyform is one of the best things you coulddo for boost your immunity. A singletiny fruit is equivalent in vitamin C con-tent to two oranges.

TURMERIC AND PEPPEROne of the reasons why turmeric is

so freely sprinkled in all Indian dishesis because it is a nutritional powerhouseand a gift for our body’s immunity.Curcumin, present in turmeric, hasanti-inflammatory, antiseptic andantibacterial properties. It’s best tocombine turmeric with a pinch of pep-per, as curcumin shows increased bio-availability in the presence of peperine,which is one of the active compounds

of black pepper.FOOD FOR IMMUNITYYou can have cheese or yogurt for

stronger gut immunity, along withblack pepper, broccoli, sprouts, citrusfruits. Avoid foods that are cold, sweetor too fried.

As more cases of Covid-19(Coronavirus) come to light, it is quitenatural to feel anxious. Crossing bor-ders, the virus hit a milestone, infect-ing more than 100,000 people world-wide. Government and the health min-istries are stepping up to the challengeand have already come up with varioussteps to increase effectiveness againstthe viral infections. The basic preven-tive measures include: � You are encouraged to wash yourhands often as these are the most com-mon carriers of the virus potentiallybecause of common contact. � Don’t touch your face repeatedly(eyes, nose and mouth specifically).� Maintain social distance (lest youcome directly in contact with someonewho is displaying the symptoms).� Practice respiratory hygiene.� Symptoms include dry cough, cold,fever and shortness of breath.� Most importantly, get yourself test-ed if you are experiencing any of thesymptoms or you have doubts.� Stay hydrated.

— The author is chief science officerof a company specialising in herbalproducts

Sustainable is one of gardening’strendiest buzzwords, yet it

carries a range of definitions. Justwhat does it mean in practicalterms and how important is it tothe average gardener? Veryimportant, according to a recentplant trends study by horticultur-alists with the University ofFlorida Institute of Food andAgricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).It found strong interest in nativeplants, re-wilding gardens, grow-ing edibles and going easy onwildlife, among other concerns.

“More and more people aresupporting sustainability, wherethe social, environmental andeconomic factors balance,” saidMark Tancig, a horticulture agentwith University of Florida Foodand Agricultural SciencesExtension. “That means plantingthings that don’t require as muchwater or fertiliser. Using plantsthat resist disease and insects.Choosing native plants in mix-tures that attract wildlife. “Thatnot only saves you money butthey look good, too,” Tancig said.“They’re restorative to the envi-ronment.”

Sustainable isn’t necessarilythe same as organic, noted Erica

Chernoh, an Oregon StateUniversity Extension horticultur-ist. “Organic’ has become legallyrecognised,” Chernoh said.“Sustainability is more of anopen book, combining ecological,sociological and economic fac-tors.”

Ross Penhallegon, a horticul-turist emeritus with Oregon StateUniversity Extension, said sus-tainability requires that we alllook at our garden and ask whatwe can do to reduce carbonimprint, reduce irrigation and useless products.”

Some simple sustainable gar-dening goals, he noted in a factsheet, include:

— Starting compost pilesrather than throwing away yarddebris. “Composting keeps all thenutrients stored in yard debris inyour garden on site and feeds thesoil,” he said. “It also saves youmoney since buying compost

isn’t necessary.”— Shifting from standard

sprinklers to drip irrigation orsoaker hoses. “You can reduceyour water use by up to 80 percent,” Penhallegon said. “Also,consider using drought-resistantplants to save water.”

— Lessening pesticide use byplanting large seedlings that with-stand pests and diseases betterthan small ones.

— Growing your own foodby saving seeds from some ofyour healthiest plants for use thefollowing year.

— Fighting bugs withIntegrated Pest Management,which uses the least toxic meth-ods, minimising risks to humans,animals, pollinators and otherbeneficial insects. “If you mustuse a pesticide, use a low-toxici-ty one,” Penhallegon said.

Gardeners operate on asmaller scale than farmers but stillcan have major impacts, Chernohsaid. “They can do that by notover-fertilising, by eliminatingany spraying that isn’t necessary.Their size may be unlike farmers’,but their goals are the same,” shesaid.

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National team captainsManpreet Singh and Rani

Rampal on Sunday won theDhruv Batra Player of the YearAward 2019 in the men’s andwomen’s categories respectively atthe third Hockey India AnnualAwards here.

Manpreet and Rani receiveda cash award of �25 lakh each,besides trophies, as the achieve-ments of the current and formerIndian hockey players were cele-brated at a glittering ceremonyhere.

The Hockey India AnnualAwards carried a total prize purseof Rs 1.64 crore.

It has been a wonderful 2019for both Manpreet and Rani asthey led the men’s and women’steams to Tokyo Olympics berths.

Manpreet became the first

Indian to win the InternationalHockey Federation’s (FIH) Playerof the Year award last month,while Rani became the first-everplayer to win the prestigious‘World Games Athlete of theYear’ award in January.

Among other awards,Olympic Gold medallistHarbinder Singh won the presti-gious Major Dhyan ChandLifetime Achievement Award2019 for his outstanding contri-bution to the sport. He receiveda cash prize of Rs 30 lakh and atrophy.

The Milestone Awards werepresented to Deep Grace Ekka,Kothajit Singh and Savita forplaying 200 international match-es. They received a cheque of Rs1 lakh each, plus a trophy.

Harmanpreet Singh, LalitKumar Upadhyay and NikkiPradhan were also recognised for

playing 100 matches for India.They were presented with acheque of �50,000 each and a tro-phy.

Manpreet was also awardeda cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for win-ning the FIH Men’s Player of theYear 2019, while youngsters VivekSagar Prasad and Lalremsiamireceived cash awards of Rs 5 lakheach for winning the FIH RisingStar of the Year 2019 Awards in

the men's and women’s cate-gories respectively.

Rani was also given a cashprize of Rs 10 lakh for winningthe prestigious World GamesAthlete of the Year 2019.

“It was a great year for ourteam, and I would like to dedicatethis award to my teammates andcoaches, without whom I wouldnot be holding this trophy. I hopethis award will motivate, notonly myself, but more players togive their best for the country andbring more laurels,” Manpreetsaid.

“ have always strived to workhard for my team and my coun-try, and to have been recognisedfor doing the thing that I lovedoing the most, it gives meimmense happiness. I would liketo thank my teammates, coaches,family and Hockey India fortheir support. I dedicate this

award to my team.”Baljit Singh Award for

Goalkeeper of the Year 2019went to Krishan B Pathak, whileHarmanpreet won the Defenderof the Year recognition.

Ajit Pal Singh Award forMidfielder of the Year was baggedby Neha Goyal, while DhanrajPillay Award for Forward of theYear went to Mandeep Singh.

Each of the above individualawards carried a cash prize of Rs5 lakh besides a glittering trophy.

Young Lalremsiami won theAsunta Lakra Award forUpcoming Player of the Year2019 (Women, Under-21), whileJugraj Singh Award for UpcomingPlayer of the Year 2019 (Men,Under-21) was presented to VivekSagar Prasad.

Hockey India PresidentMohd Mushtaque Ahmad con-gratulated all the winners.

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Manchester Unitedcompleted a firstPremier League

double over Manchester Cityfor 10 years as AnthonyMartial and ScottMcTominay punished twoerrors from visiting goal-keeper Ederson for a 2-0 winat Old Trafford on Sunday.

Victory keeps United hoton the heels of Chelsea for atop-four finish in thePremier League just threepoints behind the Blues infifth place, which could begood enough for ChampionsLeague football next season.

Outgoing English cham-pions City are banned fromEuropean football for the nexttwo years pending an appealto the Court of Arbitration forSport, and on this displayseem to already be concentrat-ing on completing a treble ofcup competitions this season.

A seventh league defeat ofthe campaign for City meansLiverpool are now just a max-imum of two wins away fromclaiming a first league title in30 years.

City dominated posses-sion early on, but lacked theirnormal potency without the

injured Kevin De Bruyne asUnited created the betterchances on the counter-attack.

The January signing ofBruno Fernandes has beenkey to United's 10-gameunbeaten run and thePortuguese's first impact inthe game put Daniel Jamesthrough, but the Welshman

fired too close to Ederson.Martial also allowed the

Brazilian to make a comfort-able save with a clear sightof goal after outmusclingFernandinho.

City's defensive defi-ciencies have al lowedLiverpool to streak 25 pointsclear. But it was an unchar-

acteristic error fromEderson that gifted Unitedthe lead.

Fernandes was the cre-ator again with a scoopedfree-kick to pick out theFrenchman and his shotsqueezed under Ederson'sright hand and crept in at thenear post.

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Confidence was nowflowing through United asFernandes headed wide atthe end of an excellentteam move before Fred wascontroversially booked fordiving when he appearedto have been taken down

inside the area by NicolasOtamendi.

United fans were frus-trated VAR did not interveneon that occasion and when itdid early in the second half,City were nearly the benefi-ciaries.

Sergio Aguero wasflagged offside long before hefired past David de Gea, butthe Argentine was only frac-tionally off when the movewas reviewed.

Moments later Edersonescaped gifting another goalas a routine backpass rolledunder his foot and the for-mer Benfica stopper neededto produce a last-ditch tack-le on Martial to deny Unitedbreathing space.

City then slowly startedto up the pressure. PhilFoden's long-range driveforced De Gea into a finger-tip save.

Raheem Sterling thencould not stretch to get agood connection on RiyadMahrez's cross and De Geagot down well to denyGabriel Jesus.

However, where Unitedmay have buckled earlier inthe season, Ole GunnarSolskjaer's men held firm torecord a third win in fourmeetings with City this sea-son.

McTominay sealed thethree points deep into stop-page time when he strodeonto a wayward throw byEderson to steer the ballinto an unguarded net.

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Two-time champions ATK reliedon a David Williams brace to

script a spectacular turnaround andstorm into the final of the IndianSuper League with a 3-2 aggregatewin over holders Bengaluru FC hereon Sunday.

In the driver’s seat after winningthe first leg 1-0, Bengaluru FC struckin the fifth minute for a vital awaygoal advantage through AshiqueKuruniyan, his first of the season,from a counter attack.

Up 2-0 on aggregate, Bengaluruhad one foot in their third consecu-tive ISL final.

But ATK produced a stunningrecovery in front of a 50,000-pluscrowd, which included many MohunBagan members, who were givencomplimentary tickets. Mohun Baganand ATK have merged for the nextseason.

Captain Roy Krishna (30th)brought ATK back into the gamebefore Williams' 63rd minute penal-ty made it 2-2 on aggregate. Williamsthen struck a brilliant header in the79th minute to seal the issue 3-1 inthe second leg with local lad PrabirDas setting it up.

Das was exceptional in the mid-field and had set up the first goal aswell.

Bengaluru FC, however, startedthe match on a rousing note.

It was their latest recruitFrancisco Borges Nili who startedthe move in the midfield and playeda wonderful outside-of-the-footpass for Kuruniyan breaking downthe right.

Kuruniyan showed brilliantcontrol and skipped away from thechallenge of Sumit Rathi for a one-on-one against ArindamBhattacharja before sliding past theATK custodian, which brought the

crowd to a standstill.Under pressure, ATK goalkeep-

er Bhattacharya pulled off a stun-ning save in the 17th minute asBengaluru FC pressed hard withback-to-back attacks. In the secondattack, Kuruniyan's left footermissed the target narrowly as ATKsurvived.

In the 23rd minute, ATKlaunched a fine attack but the Indiagoalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhukept Williams at bay, diving low tohis left.

Finally, ATK brought on theequaliser with Roy Krishna doingthe rescue act.

A cross-field ball was playedtowards the right where Prabir Dasdelightfully played a one-two withWilliams to get on into the finalthird on the right flank.

Against the run of play, ATK wasawarded a penalty when Williamswas brought down by Suresh SinghWangjam in the box.

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Four Indian boxers, includingthe seasoned duo of Vikas Krishan(69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg),secured Tokyo Olympic berths onSunday by advancing to the semi-finals of the Asian Qualifiers withcontrasting quarterfinal victorieshere.

Rani, Krishan (69kg), LovlinaBorgohain (69kg) and AshishKumar (75kg) became the first setof Indian boxers to qualify for theshowpiece scheduled in July-Augustthis year.

While fourth-seeded Raninotched up a facile 5-0 win overThailand’s Pornnipa Chutee,Krishan endured a tough oneagainst third-seeded JapaneseSewonrets Okazawa before alsoprevailing in a unanimous verdictagainst the Asian Silver-medallist.

In the evening session, two-timeworld Bronze-winner and secondseed Borgohain eased pastUzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melievato enter the semifinals. Also throughto the last-four stage was Asian sil-ver-medallist Kumar with a 5-0 winover Indonesia’s Maikhel RoberrdMuskita, the bout being tougherthan what the final scoreline mightsuggest.

"I managed to execute whatev-er I had planned. I wanted to fightfrom a distance and counter-attack,which I could do. Just qualifying isnot enough, I want to now win agold medal,” a jubilant Borgohain,who hails from Assam, said after herbout.

However, first-timer SachinKumar (81kg) went down in a splitdecision to China’s national cham-pion Daxaing Chen in his quarter-final bout.

But he remains in the hunt foran Olympic berth if he can win thetwo-bout box-off between the losingquarterfinalists. The top five boxersin his category will get a spot in theTokyo Games.

While Rani, Borgohain andKumar secured their maidenOlympic spots, Krishan will bemaking his third successive appear-ance at the quadrennial showpiece,scheduled in July-August.

“I had never fought against thisgirl before today and honestly, I was

a bit scared. I had told my coachesabout it before the bout. Theyinstilled confidence in me and Icould pull off a one-sided result. I amhappy,” said the 29-year-old Rani.

Rani will next face the reigningworld and Asian champion Li Qianof China, who has the top billing inthe 75kg category. Qian had no trou-ble beating Mongolia’sMyagmarjargal Munkhbat 5-0 in theopening bout of the day.

Taking full advantage of herlonger reach, Rani outpunched theinexperienced but determinedChutee. The Indian is a three-timeAsian medallist besides being aBronze-winner at the 2014 AsianGames.

Krishan, however, had to sloghard against a brilliant boxer, whoseperformance was eye-catchingdespite the loss. Okazawa, a Gold-winner at the Olympic Test Event last

year, kept Krishan on his toes and hisright jabs were particularly effective.

What worked for the Indian wasconsistent straight punches to thebody, which fetched him the bulk ofthe points.

Awaiting Krishan in the semifi-nals is second-seeded AblaikhanZhussupov of Kazakhstan, a two-time world bronze-medallist and aformer Asian Silver-winner.Zhussupov defeated Thailand’sWuttichai Masuk in a unanimousverdict.

Krishan is making a comebackin the amateur fold after taking theprofessional plunge after the 2016Rio Olympics. He had an unbeatenrun in the circuit before a back injurychanged his plans.

Upon his return to the amateurboxing last year, he won a Goldmedal at the South Asian Games inDecember.

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Thomas Mueller scored asBayern Munich opened up

a four-point lead at the top ofthe Bundesliga with a 2-0 victo-ry over Augsburg at the AllianzArena on Sunday, while thespread of the coronavirusthreatened to curtail the season.

Bayern lacked fluency in theopening stages despite scoring13 goals in their previous threeBundesliga games, but didenough to edge closer to aneighth straight title.

Bayern extended theirunbeaten run to 15 gamesdespite starting slowly.

It was not until near the endof the first half when the homeside looked like troubling thescorers, with Mueller shootingover the crossbar with just thekeeper to beat.

Mueller made no mistake inthe 53rd minute however, col-lecting a long ball from JeromeBoateng and side-footing intothe net.

The goal, reminiscent ofthe prolific Mueller of a decadeago, continued his recent strong

form under manager HansiFlick.

Since Flick took over,Mueller has scored sixBundesliga goals and assisted 12more in 15 games.

Augsburg had severalchances to equalise on thecounter. Their best opportuni-ty came when FlorianNiederlechner had two bites atthe cherry just two yards fromgoal in the 80th minute.

He had his first effort savedby Manuel Neuer and wasunable to take advantage of afortunate bounce from therebound, shooting straight intothe desperate Bayern defence.

Niederlechner found theback of the net in the 89thminute, but the goal was laterruled out for a marginal offsidenear the halfway line.

Leon Goretzka put the gamebeyond doubt with a goal in sec-ond-half stoppage time afterbeing expertly fed by SergeGnabry before dribbling theball past keeper Andreas Luthe.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovi’s late goal couldn’t preventAC Milan losing 2-1 to relegation-threatened

Genoa as Serie A soccer matches resumed ineerily empty stadiums on Sunday - after evenmore of a delay.

Italian soccer was thrown into further con-fusion on Sunday after calls from Italy’s sportsminister and the players’ association presidentto suspend the matches in the top division.

The game between second-place Juventusand third-place Inter Milan is set to go aheadlater Sunday.

Ibrahimovi?, who had two other goodchances, scored from close range 13 minutesfrom time to set up a tense finale after first-halfgoals from Goran Pandev and FrancescoCassata for Genoa.

The result added to Milan’s troubling week.It fired chief football officer Zvonimir Boban onSaturday.

The voices of players and coaches couldclearly be heard as the match had to be playedin an empty stadium following last week’sdecree from the Italian government that allsporting events in Italy must take place with-out spectators until April 3.

That led to Thursday’s decision that theItalian soccer league would resume in fullthis weekend, starting with the matches thatwere postponed last round because of the

virus outbreak in Italy.Milan remained seventh, while Genoa

climbed out of the relegation zone, although itremained level on points with 18th-place Lecce.

Parma-Spal, the first match of the day, kickedoff after a 75-minute delay inside an empty sta-dium as officials considered an appeal fromsports minister Vincenzo Spadafora minutesbefore the scheduled start. Spal won 1-0.

Sampdoria moved one point above the dropzone after it came from behind to beat HellasVerona 2-1.

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The Indian Fed cup team created history by progress-ing to the play-offs for the first time ever with Ankita

Raina leading the side to a 2-1 win over Indonesia, here.Ankita on Saturday night pulled off a crucial sin-

gles win against talented Aldila Sutjiadi to lock the tie1-1 after Rutuja Bhosale suffered a crushing defeatagainst an unranked Priska Madelyn Nugroho.

Up against the 16-year-old Indonesian, who isranked 15th on the ITF junior circuit, Rutuja lost 3-6,6-0, 3-6 in one hour and 43 minutes in the opening sin-gles. Ankita, who lost her previous twosingles, demolished the challenge of Sutjiadi 6-3 6-3 inthe second rubber.

She then combined with seasoned Sania Mirza tobeat Sutziyadi and Nugroho 7-6(4) 6-0 to seal India'splace in the play-offs where they will take on eitherLatvia or the Netherlands in April.

They overcame a sluggish start as they were trail-ing 1-4 but regrouped to dominate the decisive set.

India finished second in the six-team Group withfour wins in a row after losing the opening tie to China,who remained unbeaten in the tournament.

Since earning their place back in Asia/OceaniaGroup I in 2016, India has remained in the regionalgroup.

With the rise of Ankita, things began to improve.Rutuja also played a key role as she provided win-

ning starts in a few ties, sharing the burden with Ankita.Sania’s return to Fed Cup after four years also helped

as her inspirational presence and guidance helped theside immensely.

India’s non-playing captain Vishal Uppal is delight-ed with the result.

“It’s a historic moment and to be part of it feels sur-real. I am proud of each and every member of our team— the players, physio, coach, manager. We all cametogether and worked towards a common goal,” Uppaltold PTI.

“The key was to do the fundamentals well and keepit simple on court. As a team everyone stepped up oneday or the other which is very important. I hope thiswin will give a big boost to women’s tennis in India.”

Ankita shines with two wins asIndia creates Fed Cup history

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India saved their worst for the last as abrutal Australian side outclassed themby 85 runs for an unprecedented fifth

T20 World Cup triumph in a final thatpromised much but delivered very littlehere Sunday.

Batting first after the coin landed inMeg Lanning's favour, Australia came outin scintillating fashion with their openersAlyssa Healy (75 off 39 balls) and BethMooney (78 off 54 balls) laying the foun-dation with a 115-run partnership in dou-ble quick time.

Stirred up by the grand occasion, theironslaught fired Australia to a formidable184 for four in the stipulated 20 overs.

Overwhelmed by the occasion, Indiacrumbled to 99 all out in front of a turnoutof 86174 at the iconic Melbourne CricketGround, a record in women's cricket his-tory.

What worked in the home team'sfavour was that their openers easily neu-tralised the threat posed by the in-formspinner Poonam Yadav (1/30 in 4 overs)with percentage game while taking thelikes of medium-pacer Shikha Pandey andDeepti Sharma to the cleaners.

On the day, Pandey was smashed for52 runs in her four overs.

Half the battle was won there for theformidable Australians, who, in starkcontrast to the India, saved their best forthe last.

The manner and magnitude of thedefeat, including a few sub plots, were rem-iniscent of the 2003 men's World Cup finalwhen Ricky Ponting's Australia thrashedSourav Ganguly's India in an anti-climac-tic title clash.

Like Zaheer Khan in his opening overat the Wanderers against Adam Gilchristand Matthew Hayden, Deepti Sharma wasall nerves when up against Mooney andHealy, who blasted massive sixes as thebeaming husband Mitchell Starc watchedfrom the stands.

The match was as good as over whenIndia were 18/3 in the fourth over, whichbecame four for 4/30 when skipperHarmanpreet Kaur departed and 58/5when Veda Krishnamurthy was taking thelong walk back.

From India's point of view, the final

outing was a far cry from their campaignopener when the same team humbled thehosts.

“The first game was very good, it gave

us a lot of confidence. We spent a lot oftime together, unfortunate for us not to wintoday,” Harmanpreet said after the game.

“Sometimes, we are not able to give our

best.”Triumphant captain Lanning said,

“To put this kind of performance on thebiggest day is outstanding and somethingthat I'm really proud of.”

Earlier, Mooney and Healy rode ondropped chances to smash blistering fiftiesand power Australia to a challenging 184for four.

Mooney top-scored for Australia butit was Healy, who took to the attack afterbeing dropped in the fifth ball of theinnings by Shafali Verma off DeeptiSharma.

Healy’s 39-balls innings was laced withseven fours and five hits over the fence.

Healy and Mooney shared 115 runs in11.5 overs for the opening wicket to giveAustralia a flying start after opting to batfirst.

Just like Healy, Mooney too cashed inon a dropped chance — caught andbowled opportunity by Rajeshwari

Gayakwad in the fourth over — to pun-ish India by reaching her fifty in 41 balls.

Mooney struck 10 boundaries in her54-ball unconquered knock.

Despite losing to India in the tourna-ment opener, defending champions andfour-time winners, Australia entered thefinal as favourites because of their bigmatch temperament and experience.

And the Meg Lanning-led side provedtheir billing as Healy tore apart the hap-less Indian attack with her power-hittingfrom ball one.

Healy’s entertaining knock finallycame to an end in 12th over when she washoled out at the long-on boundary by VedaKrishnamurthy off left-arm spinner RadhaYadav.

After Healy’s dismissal, Mooney tookcharge and added 39 runs with skipper

Lanning before Deepti’s double strike inthe 17th over pulled things back for Indiato some extent.

While Lanning (6) was caught byShikha Pandey in the second ball, AshleighGardner was stumped by Taniya Bhatiathree balls later.

Rachael Haynes (4) too failed to deliv-er as she played on a Poonam Yadav deliv-ery in the 19th over.

But Mooney took up the responsibil-ity and remained unbeaten in the compa-ny of Nicola Carey (5 not out) to takeAustralia close to the 190-run mark.

The Indian slow bowlers — Deepti(2/38), Radha Yadav (1/34) and PoonamYadav (1/30) did well to restrict Australiaunder 200, which looked easily achievablewhen Mooney and Healy were goinggreat guns.

����� �8:,B5 #8

Meg Lanning on Sunday hailedher team after captaining

Australia to their fifth ICC Women'sT20 World Cup title here.

The skipper has been at thehelm for many an Australian suc-cess but took that to a new level atthe MCG with an 85-run victoryover India for their first crown onhome soil.

But it was far from an easyjourney to the top for Lanning,with a group-stage victory overNew Zealand and the semi-finalsuccess against South Africa amongher most stressful cricket moments.

“This tournament was alwaysgoing to be massive, we had our upsand downs throughout and every-

thing was thrown at us. To be ableto come through and have the com-plete performance on the biggeststage, it’s something that’s prettyamazing,” she was quoted as sayingby the ICC.

“The New Zealand game andthe semi-final, that's the most ner-vous and sick I've felt playingcricket. To get through that, com-ing in to the final, everyone was alittle on edge but it just happened.”

Such was the magnitude ofthe Melbourne final, Lanningstruggled to settle at all prior to thematch.

Never before has the women'sgame seen a crowd comparable tothe 86,174 that packed into theMCG on the International Women’sDay.

But the 27-year-old was calmwhen it mattered the most —largely thanks to her Australiateammates holding back their ownnerves on the big day.

“This day is incredible, wecouldn't have dreamed of this.When the organisers said theywanted to get that many people forthe Final, I must admit I was a bitsceptical.

“But you wanted to be thereand be involved. There was such abig build-up, all the outside pres-sure and expectation -- we wantedto come and win this tournamentbut it was something else.

“The way we were able to reactand deal with that was testament tothe group — this day is certainlythe best of my career so far.”

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Bruised and battered in New Zealand, India’s ODIsquad on Sunday got a major boost as a fit-again

Hardik Pandya returned for the three-match seriesagainst South Africa, having successfully recuperat-ed from a back surgery.

Along with Pandya, opener Shikhar Dhawan andseamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will also add depth tothe 15-member squad, selected under the chairman-ship of Sunil Joshi.

However, itcould be curtains forveteran KedarJadhav as ShubmanGill’s return in thewhite-ball fold is agood enough indic-tor.

Vi c e - c ap t a i nRohit Sharma is yetto fully recuperatefrom his calf muscleinjury and is expect-ed to return to actionduring the IndianPremier League laterthis month. Thus,Prithvi Shawretained his place inthe ODI squad,while Mayank Agarwal, after a dismal New Zealandtour, had to make way for Dhawan.

The Mumbai duo of Shardul Thakur and ShivamDube paid for their shoddy showing in New Zealandas Pandya and Bhuvneshwar rightfully got their placesback.

Bhuvneshwar, on the other hand, had a sportshernia surgery but has successfully completed hisrehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy.

But the biggest news was Hardik’s comeback,which, though, was on predictable lines.

Pandya’s performances at the DY Patil CorporateCup was not about the 150 odd he scored or the wick-ets he took but was about how fit he looked out therein the middle.

At the same time, the soon-to-be-35 Jadhav, whohas literally stopped bowling in ODIs and is also notdoing well batting at the No 6 slot, has been finallydropped from the side.

With the next 50-over World Cup in 2023 whenJadhav will be 38, it is highly unlikely that he willadd to his 73 ODIs.

Shardul, who did improve as a batsman, leakedruns during the T20s as well as ODIs. Bhuvneshwar’sexperience as a swing and seam bowler was sorelymissed in New Zealand conditions. WithMohammed Shami rested for this series,Bhuvneshwar’s presence will also be a bit of respitefor Jasprit Bumrah, who himself is going through arough patch.

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Saurashtra, led by the inspira-tional Jaydev Unadkat, will

back themselves to win an elu-sive Ranji Trophy title at homebut a buoyant Bengal will be nopushovers in what promises tobe an absorbing final beginninghere on Monday.

Both the teams are desper-ate to go all the way withSaurashtra reaching their fourthfinal in eight seasons whileBengal has not tasted success inthe premier domestic eventsince the 1989-90 triumph.

While Bengal bulldozedover the mighty Karnataka inthe semifinals, Saurashtra edgedout Gujarat in a see-saw contestat the SCA Stadium, which isalso the venue for the final.

There will also be starpower on display with Testregulars Cheteshwar Pujara andWriddhiman Saha joining theSaurashtra and Bengal squadsrespectively, having returnedfrom New Zealand.

In fact, Pujara was verymuch Saurasthra’s 12th manwith Unadkat being in constanttouch with his senior teammateduring the hard-fought semifi-nal. Now his physical presencein the all-important game willbe a big boost to the side.

Saurashtra would not haveended up on the right side of theresult against Gujarat if it was-n’t for Unadkat, who has had a

sensational run this season with65 wickets at an average of 12.17and is three shy of the all-timerecord of 68 scalps, set by Biharspinner Ashutosh Aman lastseason.

The left-arm pacer single-handedly led his team to victo-ry on day five earlier this weekwith a seven-wicket haul on aflat surface, including the scalpsof a set Parthiv Patel andChiragh Gandhi, who hadbrought Gujarat back in thegame from a hopeless 63 for fivewhile chasing 327.

Unadkat’s stellar perfor-mances over the course of theseason has put him back in

national reckoning but in hisown words, they would countfor little if the team doesn’t goall the way.

Not just with the ball, healso inspired with his captain-cy and one example of that waswhen he promoted number 11Chetan Sakariya, who shared acrucial 90-run stand with ArpitVasavada (139) after the hosts

collapsed to 15 for five.The skipper is leading from

the front but will expect morefrom his fellow pacers whohave not done much to writehome about this season.

Besides Pujara, the team’sleading run-getter SheldonJackson will be expected toshoulder the batting responsi-bilities.

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Skipper Harmanpreet Kauron Sunday backed belea-

guered 16-year-oldShafali Verma after herdropped catch ofAlyssa Healy costIndia dear in theWomen’s T20 WorldCup final againstAustralia here onSunday.

Shafali dropped Healy inthe first over when theAustralian opener was onnine. Healy went on tosmash a 39-ball 75 and,along with Beth Mooney(78 not out off 54),added 115 runs for theopening wicket topower Australia to184 for four.

“She (Verma)is only 16, she’splaying her firstWorld Cup. Shedid really, reallywell and per-formed forus. For a 16-y e a r - o l dkid, it’s dif-ficult to keept h i n k i n gpositively andstay in the game,”

said Kaur.“It’s a learning lesson for her but it

could happen to anyone. We can’tblame her because there were

others also in her position.”Left-arm spinner

Rajeshwari Gayakwadalso wasted a caught

and bowledchance of

Mooney earlyin the

A u s t r a l i a ninnings, and Kaur

rued the two droppedcatches.“We gave chances to bat-

ters in great form and it's dif-ficult for bowlers to comeback when that happens,” shesaid.

Kaur denied that herside were overwhelmed bythe occasion as they were

playing in their maiden finalin front of a record 86174spectators at the iconic MCG,the most in a women's crick-et match.

“We weren’t feeling underpressure but unfortunatelywe were unable to create

those chances. It’s a lessonfor all of us, we have to be

at 100 per cent when we’refielding because that'sthe most important part

of cricket.”

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�(�)����Senior India player SmritiMandhana called for the team to be leftalone after its 85-run mauling byAustralia.

“This is a time to introspect. Failureteaches you a lot more than success. Theteam needs to be left alone and thinkof how we can be better in the next fewyears,” Mandhana said after the match.

Mandhana believed India are atransformed team in the shortest for-mat, and she attributed it to head coachWV Raman.

“T20 was never our best format,

one-day was definitely the preferred for-mat. Now we’re playing each formatequally well. That is one thing the coachhas helped us with and we’ve developedmassively,” she said.

“The youngsters coming in havetotally changed the set-up and the bestpart of the tournament was it was acomplete team performance. That’sone thing Raman has done — develop-ing us as a team not just one or two play-ers. Today, it didn't work out but we'vegrown as a team, not just as one or twoplayers.” PTI

Team needs to be left alone, time to introspect: Mandhana

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Teenage spinner Mujeeb UrRahman took three wickets to

help Afghanistan beat Ireland by 21runs and claim an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the secondTwenty20 international in India onSunday.

Afghanistan won the toss andelected to bat, but started sluggish-ly before skipper Asghar Afghan's49 off 28 balls lifted the team to 184for 4 from 20 overs.

Mujeeb struck early in Ireland’sinnings to claim the wickets ofopeners Paul Stirling and KevinO'Brien, and finished with 3-38 toearn the man of the match.

Captain Andrew Balbirnie (46)and Harry Tector (37) mounted a

recovery but it was not enough,with Ireland finishing on 163-6.

“Happy to win the series. Wefocused on some strike rotationbefore going for quick runs,”Afghan told Cricinfo after thematch.

Ireland captain AndrewBalbirnie said his team needed tobuild on its strong starts.

“We started pretty well but youhave to be good for the whole 20overs... The series is now gone butit’s a big year and we need to focuson the third game,” Balbirnie added.

Afghanistan beat Ireland in thefirst match on Friday in a rain-affected fixture in India.

The two teams play the thirdand final game, also in northernIndia, on Tuesday.

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Wriddhiman Saha is con-fident that Bengal’s

unheralded bunch of bowlershave seen enough ofCheteshwar Pujara on televi-sion to plot his dismissalwhen they take on Saurashtrain the Ranji Trophy final.

This is the first time inhis 13-year-old first-classcareer that Saha will be play-ing a national final andAkash Deep, Mukesh Kumarand Ishan Porel will onlybenefit from his advice onhow dismiss Pujara on atrack wher he has playedsome of his marathoninnings.

“Whoever fights till theend will win. They (Bengal

teammates) all watch interna-tional matches. They knowhow to get Pujara out,” Sahawas reticent as usual bit sure-ly put across a point.

“Earlier, the past teamsreached the knock-outs onthe basis of performance of afew players. For example,Ashok Dinda used to take(bulk of) wickets withoutmuch support from the otherend, the team was stuck in away. Now everyone is con-tributing,” Saha said.

“The bowlers are alsocontributing with the bat.Match-wining performanceshave come in the battingdepartment. There is goodcamaraderie too whichhelps,” the veteran of 102first-class games said.

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